Unintended Happiness
by dramaqueen-144
Summary: Some of the most precious things can be completely unintened and chages lives forever. Sequal to Violets and Feel the Rain. Set Nine years later. Contains some corse language and mild adult themes. No Lemons
1. Big Surprise

**A/N: Here's the Third story! Enjoy!**

**Chapter One- Big Surprise**

There was something that I had been procrastinating doing all morning. I had at first planned to do it early in the morning before Iggy got up but I had 'accidentally' slept in. all morning I had found things to fill my time up, so I wouldn't have to do this daunting thing. Yes, I had done it before and I had the exact same reaction last time. The thing that I was procrastinating was taking a pregnancy test.

Nine years had passed since Iggy got his sight back and a lot of things had changed. About a year after that had happened the flock had moved into a home of our own, hidden by forestry on the outskirts of LA. Iggy had somehow managed Max and Fang to give us the smaller three-bedroom cottage-like house that was separate from the main house which had five bedrooms.

We had been incredibly happy living together in our home. It had a massive kitchen which was perfect for Iggy and it was close enough to town that it was easy to go shopping and stuff, but far away enough that we had perfect privacy. We lived an incredibly peaceful life there for about six years just going about our day to day business. Then two years ago our lives got turned upside down and things changed forever.

It was two days before Max and Fang's wedding when this change became first apparent. Yes, they got married. I was surprised at the time too. Anyway, it was two days before the wedding and I just felt like crap. I was tired and was throwing up. I was starting to panic as I was the maid-of-honour. Then I looked at the calendar and figured out that my period was two weeks late.

I started freaking out and drove manically to the chemist to buy a pregnancy test. I took it when I got home and surprise, surprise it was positive. I had an almost mental breakdown. I was twenty-two, un-married and pregnant. I had never been more terrified in my life. Luckily Iggy wasn't home so he was none the wiser. I managed to keep it a complete secret until the next day.

The Flock were on the way to Arizona where the wedding was going to be held. We had stopped for a quick lunch break at a roadside picnic stop that was surrounded by forest and someone was cooking hot dogs. The smell made my already nauseated stomach churn. I ran off into the trees and threw up violently. It was so bad I didn't notice someone coming up behind me until they pulled back my hair and rubbed my back. Iggy. The conversation that followed was one that I will remember til my dying day.

"_Violet, I need you to tell me what's wrong. Don't pass this of as bad food because you've been looking sick for days. I'm worrying about you."_

"_I'm not sick." I choked out. I was tearing up. For the second time in two days. This baby was turning me into a marshmallow_

"_Then what's wrong."_

"_I'm... I'm p-p-pregnant." __I sobbed. Iggy froze with a stunned expression on his face. He looked like he was going to pass out. _

"_Iggy?" I said waving my hand in front of his face. Then he broke into a wide smile _

"_I'm going to be a dad?" he said. _

"_Yeah, I'm six weeks along." I whispered smiling too. _

"_This is amazing, I'm surprised but in a good way you know. When did you find out?"_

"_Yesterday, I was waiting for the right moment to tell you. I'm sorry."_

"_Don't be, you needed to sort things out." he wiped the tears off my cheeks. "You know there's been something I've wanted to ask you for a very long time now and I think now's the right time. Violet will you marry me?" He had a ring and everything._

"_Yes." My tears were still falling thick and fast. Iggy picked me up and twirled me round._

We went to Max and Fang's wedding keeping our secret our entire time. Telling the flock was hilarious now that I think about it but I definitely didn't think that way at the time. Iggy, being Iggy, had announced our baby by saying, and this is a direct quote, _"Fang I knocked your sister up." _Bad move. Fang ended up punching Iggy in the face and not talking to him for like a month.

The following months were hectic as Iggy and I planned a wedding and prepared for our baby. Through an ultrasound we found out that we were having a baby girl. Despite being so busy, I still managed to work on a side project. With motherhood looming over me, I started to think a lot more about finding my own mom. I searched and found that she actually lived in LA. I dragged Fang along with me and we were finally reunited with our mom, Arabella. We knocked on her door and she recognised us straight away. She turned out to be the greatest mom ever and we had a step-dad and two half sisters too. We also found our dad. After finding his office, I strode right in and punched him in the face with Fang doing the same. We left before security could come.

Iggy and I got married when I was seven months pregnant. I never pictured having something growing inside me on my wedding day, but it was a beautiful day all the same. The whole event was themed black and white which seemed to compliment the two of us. Fang walked we down the aisle dressed in his usual all black. When we opened the door and I saw Iggy watching me with a complete look of love and happiness on his face, it proved to me that I was doing the right thing.

He looked absolutely handsome. He would have put Prince Charming to shame. He wore a black suit, with a white shirt and black tie. It was plain and simple but it worked on him. I wore a knee-length strapless white dress. We matched that day in way that we didn't most days. I had fretted about being so fat and pregnant on my wedding day but seeing Iggy made me forget about everything except him and me.

I cried on and off all day, I was emotional and hormonal. Thank god for water proof make-up. I was extremely tearful through the speeches, Iggy's in particular,

"_Wow, I'm in shock. Me, married. Fang you owe Nudge twenty bucks. Nudge I'm taking a cut. I've got to pay for all this somehow._

"_Anyway, down to the more serious stuff, when I was a lot younger I used to picture my dream girl in my head, which some might have found stupid since I was blind, but it didn't stop me seeing her. I called her my dream girl because I thought that that was all she was going to be but then I met Violet who is my dream girl in every way. Never did I think that my dream girl could be real because she was just so perfect but I was proved wrong. I also thought that if someone like my dream girl WAS real then she would never fall for a guy like me but Violet proved me wrong again. Violet showed me that dreams really can come true even if they seem impossible._

"_Another time Violet has proved me wrong was about our baby. I always thought if some girl told me I knocked her up, I'd run for the hills. But after I got past the initial shock, I really liked the idea of some kid calling me daddy. Because it would be my kid. Mine and Violet's kid. I'm not ashamed to say that I'm excited for this baby. I honestly can't wait to become a father. I love that baby already. I guess what I'm trying to say is Violet, you prove me wrong a lot and surprisingly I love it. _

"_By the way honey, you're looking incredibly beautiful today. Like every day. I'm really proud to call you my wife; I'm probably the luckiest guy around. You know me inside and out and you still put up with me. I'll never to hurt you and I'll look after you. And of course our baby. I'm going to be the best husband and father that I can. And that is a promise. I love you more than anything._

"_And now to address some concerns of my new brother-in-law. No Fang, I will not break her heart and I don't think it's possible for __**you**__ to break __**my**__ neck. And I agree with you that she could do worse. Thank you for that rare compliment. Oh and yes, I am aware of the fact that baby plus bomb is a bad combination. I'm not completely clueless about being a parent. I've read some books._

"_So I'm married now, to a great girl. This guy is officially off the market. Domestic bliss here I come."_

Our first dance as a married couple was to 'At last' by Etta James. It was kind of cliché but I loved the song and it suited us. A big surprise for me was that Iggy had made the cake himself. It was beautiful and delicious and the waterworks just kept on coming. Near the end of the night Iggy started calling me his little fountain. We had a beautiful honeymoon in Mexico. I couldn't go too far because I was heavily pregnant but I still wanted to go somewhere sunny and nice.

The next two months were spent getting ready to be a mother. My mom came to visit nearly every day and I noticed that Iggy started getting a little bit jealous as he and his parents were so estranged but I wasn't sure what I could do about it. If he wanted to get in touch with them it was his own choice. I let him know that one day and he told me wanted to think about it some more.

Our daughter was born on the seventh of September. I never thought that something could be so small, so beautiful, so precious. But there she was. We named her Lily Violet Ride. She instantly had the whole flock, especially Iggy and I, wrapped around her little finger. I found myself being able to sit there for a very long time, simply looking at her. Iggy definitely let down a lot of his macho facade whenever she was in his arms.

One day, when Lily was about three months old, I was feeding Lily in mine and Iggy's bedroom and Iggy came and sat on the bed next to us.

_Iggy sighed heavily, he looked as if he was stressing over something. He started stroking Lily's curls watching her intently. _

"_What's wrong?" I asked rubbing his arm with my free hand._

"_I've been thinking... about my parents. I do want them to come back into my life and meet Lily but I just don't know if I can trust them."_

"_Oh honey." I let him resting his head on my shoulder "I know you're upset about this. Just do what you think is right. I'll be behind you no matter what you choose."_

"_I think I'll give them a call."_

Iggy got in contact with his parents and they flew from Washington to visit us. They seemed like really nice people and we obviously delighted to be an active part in their son's and granddaughters lives again. But something seemed amiss. There was just something untrustworthy about them. I shook it off as me simple being over-protective of Lily and Iggy and put on a smile.

But one day, Iggy, Lily and I were out shopping. We walked past a group of people crowding round a newspaper stand. Iggy went up to have a closer look and the people immediately recognised him. The three of us were on the front page of the paper, wings and all. Iggy's parents had sold the pictures that had been taken the day that they had visited to the paper. Immediately there were flashing lights of the paparazzi. We pushed our way through the paparazzi and ran to the car, going straight home.

For the next week or so we tried to live like normal. But we couldn't take a step outside our house without being mobbed. Eventually Iggy and I sat down one night while Lily was asleep and made one of the hardest decisions of our lives. We made up our minds to go into hiding. Leave LA for awhile and go hideout somewhere, just the three of us. We packed up over the course of a few days only telling the most important people in our lives where we were going. The less people that knew the better.

We headed to New York. The bigger the city, the easier it would be to blend in with everyone else. We rented a two-bed roomed apartment in Manhattan. I knew that Iggy was beating himself up about the whole situation.

_I put a cup of coffee down in front Iggy. He was sitting at the kitchen table in the tiny kitchen of the apartment. It was our first night there and Lily was napping. I sat down across from him taking a sip of my own coffee._

"_It's all my fault." Iggy mumbled looking down at his hands. I took one of his in mine._

"_How could it be your fault? You never took the pictures. You didn't sell us out. Stop blaming yourself."_

"_But I knew they would do something like this, but I still let them visit us. I let them see her. I just had some sort of new perspective on life, maybe it was because I know what it's like to have a child now that I couldn't imagine that you wouldn't want what's best for them."_

"_You're a good father. No one would have expected them to do that and even if you did you wouldn't have let them near her. You always put Lily before yourself and what you want."_

"_I want to keep her safe, her and you. I have to take her and you into account when I make decisions now."_

"_Iggy, don't beat yourself up about this. It's out of our control. In a few months this will all be over and we can go home and back to our normal lives. Anyway, New York could be fun. It will snow soon. It wouldn't snow in LA."_

"_You are such an optimist."_

As I had predicted we became less and less interesting as time passed and three months later we were able to move back home. Since then life had continued as normal. Lily was eighteen months old now and the most gorgeous little girl ever. She had inherited her father's strawberry blond hair which hung in curls. Her eyes were dark with a little bit of gold in them, just like mine. She had creamy white skin but she wasn't quite as pale as Iggy. She looked like an average one and a half year old except for her wings. They were downy like a baby birds and a dark gold, like a combination of mine and Iggy's. There were unusable at the moment as they weren't strong enough to carry her yet.

I sat on the edge of the bathtub waiting for the result to show up on the test. The two minutes that it took felt like an hour. It finally passed and I looked down at the little pink strip, positive. I shut my eyes and groaned lightly. Another baby. With a toddler as well this time. I hadn't planned to stop at just one kid but not this soon. But then again it was my baby, mine and Iggy's baby. We had done it before and could do it again.

A squeal from the living room disrupted me from my thoughts. I shoved the test in a draw and ran out into the living room. Iggy had a white sheet over his head chasing Lily around the room, who was squealing and giggling with delight. Iggy had a talent to be able to keep Lily entertained for hours at a time. Probably because he was such a big kid himself. Lily ran behind me and grabbed onto my jeans.

"Dada ghost!" She laughed pointing. Iggy started coming up to us but tripped over the coffee table landing on the floor with a thud. He pulled the sheet of his head and jumped to his feet.

"I guess we should be off." He said scooping Lily up.

"Huh?" I asked. I wasn't really able to focus on much at the moment.

"Remember, we're going to the Flock's house... for lunch."

"Oh yeah." It had completely slipped my mind.

"Are you okay?" He asked worriedly.

"I um-" I was about to tell him about the baby, but I stopped myself. It would be best if I had the afternoon to get used to the idea myself and then tell Iggy in a better situation, where we had a few hours to talk it over just the two of us. "I'm fine, let's go. They'll be waiting for us." I shuffled the two of them out the door; we walked down the garden path to the Flocks' house. We walked in through the backdoor and into their dining room.

"Hey guys!" Iggy greeted them. Lily grinned and waved at them all. The others all had their mouths full so all they could do was smile and wave. We sat down at the table and started piling our plates with food. Lily jumped over onto Fang's lap and started babbling away to him. Fang absolutely adored Lily and spoiled her mercilessly. He and Iggy were both suckers for giving her what she wanted.

Suddenly there was a large bang from outside.


	2. Fairy Queen

**Chapter Two- Elements**

About a second after I heard the crash and the two unfamiliar voices talking from outside, things happened inside that distracted me completely. The first thing I noticed was Fang. His eyes had gone a flat black no gold in them at all. But what was weirder was that he was starting to emit a black glow. Lily, who was still sitting on his knee, was staring at him in wonder. Fearing for my baby I pulled her off Fang and hugged her closely.

I turned in my seat to ask Iggy what the hell was happening but his hair had turned into fire. His eyes were a sinister dark red and his skin had gone even paler than normal. He didn't seem alarmed by this at all, quite the contrary; he was looking pleased with himself. I jumped up and away from the table keeping Lily securely in my arms. I had to keep both her and my unborn child safe from whatever was happening to them.

The other four were changing too. Max's hair had gone platinum white with golden streaks through it and her eyes had turned a similar gold. Nudge's hair was short and straight. It had gone dark green with white highlights and her eyes were different shades of green. Gazzy had whitish grey hair and cloudy grey eyes. Angel's usually blond hair had gone sort of watery and was green with dark blue tips and her eyes were the colour off sea water. None of the six of them had pupils.

While they were all changing into these weird things, I was practically having a panic attack. Lily was screaming and big pearly tears were running down her cheeks. She was looking straight at Iggy terrified at what her father had become.

"Dada, Dada, Dada." She shrieked. I stared at him with a stricken look.

"Its okay, look Lils Daddy's fine." Iggy said. I don't think either of us believed him. I mean his hair was on fire! I looked down at my screaming baby. Her dark eyes were wide and full of tears.

"Shh baby shh, Mama's here." She clung to my shirt and relaxed slightly into my shoulder.

"Mama." She whimpered. I stroked her strawberry blond hair. At least _she_ was calmer.

"What's...?" I was interrupted by the door opening. A man, a women and a little boy stepped inside. The man had white and grey hair but he was in no way elderly. He had sparkling black eyes. The woman had light blue hair and her eyes were the same colour. She also looked to be about six months pregnant. The dark haired little boy standing between them looked to be a little older than Lily. He had brown eyes and a red streak in his raven black hair.

"Ally, Jacob where have you been?" Max asked.

"We've been finishing off some business." The man said warmly.

"I can guess what kind of business." Iggy joked raising his eyebrows. Typical.

"Shut up Iggy." The woman said light-heartedly. They all seemed to know each other. Iggy flicked a glance over to me. I was sort of backed into a corner clutching onto Lily for dear life.

"Oh crap um... what's the word again uh... _πυρ_." He started to go back to normal. His eyes were sky blue again and his hair strawberry blond. His skin darkened slightly. I ran straight into his arms.

"What just happened?" I half growled.

"I'll explain it in a minute." He kissed me on the lips briefly and scooped Lily out of my arms.

"See Lily flower I'm okay." He cooed to her. She gave a little giggle.

"Dada." She said happily and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Ally and Jacob, this is Violet my sister." Fang said.

"You have a sister?" Said the man who I guessed to be Jacob.

"Yeah, it's a little bit of a long story, and that's her and Iggy's daughter Lily. My niece." Fang said proudly. He adored Lily. And Lily adored Uncy Fangy.

"This is Shadow our son." Ally said gesturing to the small boy. Lily looked at him curiously. After the big paparazzi drama of last year we'd kind of tried to keep her under the radar. She had never met anyone close to her own age. Though soon she would have a constant playmate. I un-consciously touched my stomach.

"So are you going to explain all this?" I said.

"Yeah we'll just change back."

"Αιθήρ"

"Αέρας"

"νερό"

"Γη"

"σκότος"

"σέλας"

"Καιρός" everyone changed back to their normal selves like Iggy had done.

"Well..." Said Nudge. I was shocked. It was just so weird. I stood with my mouth gaping open for a while.

"I... um..." I stammered. I kind of felt like I was going to pass out. I was shaking. Iggy picked up on this and put an arm around me to steady me.

"Don't I look sexy with fire hair." he whispered.

"No, you don't. You look like an idiot who stood to close to the stove." I said weakly. There was an appreciative chuckle throughout the room. Iggy made a face. "I prefer your normal hair." I ran my hand through said hair. "I can't do that with fire hair." He gave me his I'm-gonna-get-laid-later face.

"So you've been busy." Iggy said to Jacob gesturing to Shadow and Ally.

"So have you." Jacob replied raising his eyebrows at Lily who was trying to reach a plate of cookies over Iggy's shoulder. I gave one to her to avoid screaming later.

"I've only got one kid." I felt myself going red as Iggy said this. Ally noticed this.

"Are you sure about that." I made shut up gestures at her. "Uh I mean, yeah one kid." I had to do something to change the subject.

"Max and Fang got married." I blurted out.

"So did you and Iggy." Max retorted.

"Iggy got married?!" Ally and Jacob said in unison.

"Why is that always everyone's reaction?" Iggy moaned.

"Two words man. Venice. Beach." Fang chuckled.

"What happened at Venice Beach?" I said with raised eyebrows. We'd taken Lily there for a day at the beach in the summer. Iggy had never mentioned being there before.

"Iggy had Fang describe the beach bunnies to him." Gazzy piped up. I glared at Iggy.

"Man whore." I grumbled. I hadn't forgotten Tess. We'd run into her once at her at the mall once, a few days before Lily was born, and she was flirting with Iggy. I found it unbelievable she was throwing at herself at a married man whose heavily pregnant wife who was standing just a few feet away.

"Not anymore." He whined.

"It amazes me that you could end up married with children." I snapped at him.

"Children?" Iggy asked. Damn it.

"I mean child. See we've only got one." I pointed at Lily. Now would be a good time for Iggy to show his typical denseness.

"Is there something you want to tell me?"

"No." Lily yawned giving me an excuse to leave. "I'd better put her to bed." I took her out of Iggy's arms and went out the back door to our house.

"Time for beddy-byes Lily flower."

"No Mama. Teddy." Lily protested tiredly.

"Did you leave teddy at Uncle Fang's house?" She nodded. She couldn't sleep without her teddy. "Okay let's go get it." I sighed and turned around.

"Sorry Lily forgot her teddy." I saw that Iggy was passed out on the floor. Only one thing could have done this. "Okay who told him?" I passed Lily to Fang and knelt down beside Iggy.

"Iggy sweetheart, wake up. I can't do this alone." I pleaded, his eyes fluttered open. He sat up rubbing the back of his head.

"Why didn't tell me you were pregnant?" he asked.

"Why did _you_ tell me you had freaky elemental powers?"

"Touché. Do you want to go home and talk about this in private?" I nodded. Iggy stood up and took Lily off Fang. I grabbed Lily's teddy off the table and passed it to her. We went out the back door and set off down the path to our house. He held my hand the whole way. I unlocked the door and sat on the couch. Iggy went to put a half-asleep Lily down for her nap. After a few minutes he came back out.

"Well that's her asleep. Gives us a couple of hours alone." He said sitting down beside me and I leaned into him.

"I only took the test this morning. I was planning on making you a really nice dinner and telling you after Lily had gone to bed." I murmured to him.

"It'll be okay. We've done it before. We did a good job with Lily."

"Yeah I guess we did."

"So, another kid. That'll be hard work." He said relaxing into the couch and putting and arm around my shoulders. "What do you want? Boy or Girl?"

"Um... I don't know. A healthy baby."

"Come on you know you've got a preference."

"Well, I'm not sure because we've got a daughter, so maybe a boy to change things but we've got such a great daughter. So I'm not sure..."

"We do don't we. I'd like a son to teach about girls and making bombs..."

"Hell no! There is no way you are corrupting any child of mine with that dirty mind of yours."

"You know you love my dirty mind. So where are we going to put this baby?"

"The spare room, I guess. It's not like anyone ever stays there. Most people we know live close to us."

"But where's my home gym going to go?"

"Home gym? You mean all that exercise equipment you brought when you were sick and stuck watching nothing but infomercials and that you've never used?"

"I have used it... Once. What about all our other stuff that we keep in there. I thought that room was our crap room?"

"I think we'll move all that stuff into the garage. We don't actually need a crap room but we do need a nursery. I've actually been meaning to go through all that stuff for awhile now."

"So, you're using our baby as an excuse to feed your cleaning obsession." He jokingly made a tutting noise in mock-disapproval. I whacked him on the shoulder which just made him smile and laugh.

"Glad you find me so funny. So Ally and Jacob, care to clue me in a little bit?"

"It would be my pleasure. They are just old friends from before you were around. They left the flock about a week or so before you showed up."

*~*~*~*~*~*

Our conversation was disrupted about an hour later, by crying from down the hall. Lily was awake. Iggy and I both went to get her. She was sitting up in her cot clutching onto her teddy bear, which was creatively called teddy, in one hand and her toy pig, Mr Snuffles, in the other hand. She was incredibly attached to both of them and she would burst into tears if they weren't around at bedtime. When we walked into the room, she dropped them and reached for us to pick her up. I picked her up out of the cot.

"Hi darling." I greeted her hugging her tightly. Iggy kissed the top of her head.

"Did you have a good sleep?" he asked. She nodded and pressed her face into my shoulder. I looked at Iggy over the top of her head.

"Should we tell her?" He asked quietly, almost mouthing the words. I thought about for a moment then nodded. It would be stupid to keep this from her and would only result in difficult questions in a few months time, such as _Mama, why is your tummy so big _and _Mama, is this a new doll for me? _We went to sit back down in the living room again. Lily sat on my knee on the couch and Iggy crouched down in front of us.

"Lily, I need to tell you something really important. okay?" he said to her.

"Okay dada!" Lily nodded.

"After your next birthday, when you turn two, there is going to be a new addition to our family." Iggy said this slowly and carefully. Lily processed the information for a moment and then broke into a wide smile.

"We getting puppy?!"She exclaimed happily. "Or kitty?!"

"No, no, sweetheart." I laughed. "I'm going to have a baby. you're getting a little brother or sister."

"Baby?" Lily said incredulously. "Like that." She pointed to a plastic baby doll.

"Sort of but a little bit more real. It will move around and eat and drink and sleep and talk... someday." Iggy explained to her.

"Oh," Lily went silent for a moment before piping up again. "We play now?" she asked sweetly.

"Course we can." Iggy said. Lily jumped off my lap and started pulling Iggy and I down to her bedroom. She left us standing in the doorway while she rummaged around in her dress-up chest. She pulled out two tutus, three tiaras and three pairs of fairy wings.

"Dada, you be Fairy king, Mama, Fairy queen and me be Fairy princess." She bounced up and down while talking.

"Lily, I'm not really much of a fairy... or a queen." I said apologetically. Iggy nodded in agreement. Lily pouted and gave us puppy dog eyes.

"Pwease?" She asked innocently. Iggy and I exchanged long suffering glances and sighed in unison. We could never resist her when she looked as cute as that.

"Give me that tiara." Iggy instructed and Lily broke out into a heart-warming smile.


	3. Mama you ate the baby!

**Chapter Three- Mama you ate the Baby?!**

"MAMA! MAMA!" Lily howled. She came running into the lounge and launched herself at me. I caught her before she smashed her chin into my kneecap. I hauled her up onto my \knee. I was sitting on the couch talking to Ally.

"'What's wrong sweetie?" I rocked her back and forth, rubbing her back.

"Sh-sh-shadow no pway dwess up with me."

"My poor baby. It's probably because he's a boy and boys are more into cars and transformers."

"But me want him pwetty."

"It's okay, you can make daddy pretty later." She seemed appeased by that.

"Why baby not here now? Me want to pway with it."

"It's still too little."

"Where is it?"

"In my tummy." Lily's eyes almost bugged out of their sockets. Shadow wandered into the room.

"Mama you _ate _the baby."Lily squealed. Shadow sighed and looked at her patronisingly.

"No silly. When a mummy and daddy love each other they go into their bedroom and..." Jacob put a hand over his mouth. I stared at him incredulously. How did a kid that young know that? Lily didn't even know that and she had Iggy for a father.

"_Did_ you eat the baby mama?" Lily asked seriously. Well, about as serious as an eighteen month old can get.

"No it's just growing there because it's warm and safe in there."

"When can me meet it?"

"After you turn two."

"Long time."

"I know but you have to be patient." Lily went quiet for awhile.

"Violet, how are we going to feed Lily tonight?" Iggy said from the kitchen. "Her food's ready, but there's no highchair."

"I'll hold her and you feed her."I called back. I reached down into my bag and pulled out a bib and put it on Lily. I carried her into the dining room and sat at the table; Iggy sat in the chair next to us and started to feed Lily her baby food from a bowl.

"I told her you'd play dress up with her later." I told him

"Did you have to?" He moaned.

"It was the only thing that would cheer her up. Didn't you hear her screaming before?"

"Imagine what the sound will be like when there are two of them."

"Oh my god, our ear drums will blow up."

"And not in a good way. Somehow we'll manage."

"Baby in there dada." Lily said to Iggy pointing at my stomach.

"I know, I put it there." He informed her.

"How?" she asked innocently.

"Don't you dare tell her." I hissed. Poor kid was corrupted enough.

"I'll tell you when you're older." She pouted and looked as if she was about to argue but Iggy shoved some more food in her mouth so she couldn't. He scraped the bowl to get the last bit of her dinner and fed it to her. She tried to squirm away almost immediately, but with the reflexes we had both developed over the past year and a half, I got a firmer hold on her and Iggy grabbed a cloth to wipe off the food on her face.

"Good girl. There you go princess. All clean." Iggy said. I took the bib off and put her on the floor. She toddled off leaving us to deal with her mess.

"Do you think she will ever let us wipe her face?" Iggy laughed wiping the table.

"No she hates it. She's better than she was. Remember when she was about six months old."

"Yes, she'd scream and that was when she had baby reflux so we had to clean her face almost once an hour. Remind me why we are doing this again."

"Because the condom failed to work for the second time." Iggy smiled.

"I guess. I've gotta finish dinner. Love you." He kissed me on the forehead and I went back to sit on the couch next to Ally. Shadow and Lily had finally found a game to play together. They were sitting on the floor playing with the blocks. Lily was looking a bit disgruntled because Shadow's tower was a little bit bigger than hers. I was hoping she wouldn't get to frustrated and start crying again.

*~*~*~*~*

After Iggy's delicious dinner, Max and Fang decided to show Ally and Jake our home movie to catch them up on what had been going on in the past few years. I had no idea what tapes they would pull out. I sat on top of Iggy in the arm chair. The first one was of Max and Fang wedding so it didn't embarrass me too much except for the fact Iggy and I were both wearing stupid happy grins any time were on camera. It was just after we'd found out about Lily and we'd just gotten engaged.

"Now I know why you two were grinning like that. It all makes sense." Nudge commented. The next was of our wedding.

"Oh god I was huge! I look like a whale." I shrieked. I cringed into Iggy's chest. He just stroked my hair.

"No you didn't, you looked beautiful and always do." It cut to us dancing. Then Iggy and Fang were having a conversation on the screen.

"_This has to be a day for history books. Iggy the man-whore who once asked me to describe beach bunnies and cheerleaders for him just got married." _Movie-Fang said.

"_Violet's hotter than any cheerleader or beach bunny. Plus this one time when we were in bed..."_

"_Dude I don't want to know. That's my sister you're talking about."_

"_This sucks! I have no guy mates I can talk to about how sexy my wife is. She's your sister and Gazzy's too young! I need new friends!"_

"_Whatever man, just don't hurt her or the kid cause if you do I'll hunt you down at beat you up."_

"_You think you could take me emo boy?"_

"_I know I can."_

"_Okay right here right now!" _

"_Bring it on!" _Then I waddled over. I grabbed Iggy's arm.

"_Come on, we've gotta cut the cake." _I said urgently.

"_Okay my beautiful wife. You know today has been the best day of my life." _He kissed me. I could feel tears welling up in my eyes off screen.

"Are you crying?" Iggy chuckled.

"No." I squeaked brushing the tears away.

"I remember this. Anything is going to set you off for the next seven and a half months now. Am I right?"

"Shut up." it was true that I had an annoying tendency to cry over anything when I was pregnant. I also had a very short temper. As the next video would show. I was on the screen looking very pissed off.

"Oh no. Anything but this one!" I groaned.

"_Iggy, get the fucking camera out of my face and help me have your baby." _I screamed on TV.

"_But don't you want to remember this day for the rest of our lives. I mean we're about to become parents."_

"_I want to remember the after bit not the really, really painful bit. And stop filming... down there."_

"_Anything you want dear." _He set the camera down on the bedside cabinet but it was still pointing at me. He came over and held my hand and put his other one around my shoulders.

"_Okay Violet, you need to push on the next contraction. It will be in twenty seconds." _Came the voice of Doctor Lodani.

"_Come on Violet, you can do this." _Iggy encouraged me. In a few seconds I started screaming.

"_Mother-Fucking bitch! This Huuurts!" _I moaned.

"_I can feel the head." _Dr Lodani called.

"_See sweetie, our daughter has a head. Isn't that great." _Iggy said practically jumping up and down on the spot.

"_A head. Heads are good." _I gasped. I had no idea what had made me say that.

"_Get ready to push again." _Dr Lodani said. I brought my knees up near my chest and gritted my teeth. I obviously squeezed Iggy's hand really tightly because he cringed, but to his credit he didn't complain. Off-screen he shook his hand.

"I think you broke it." He told me.

"Sorry, I was too busy having a baby to worry about your hand!" I retorted. However I kissed it quickly. "Better?"

"Much better."

_The heads out, we just need one more big push." _Dr Lodani encouraged.

"_Just one more honey and we get to meet her. You're doing great." _Iggy kissed my sweaty forehead. I screamed and groaned again and then there was a little voice crying. I fell silent and collapsed back on the pillow panting.

"_Congratulations, you have a healthy baby girl." _Dr Lodani announced. Iggy disappeared off screen for a minute and returned cradling a bundle of blankets with a little pink face sticking out of it. I could see tears cascading down my face and I reached out for the bundle. Iggy, being more careful than he had ever been while carrying something, handed me our baby. He leaned over us as I held her.

"_Hello baby, I love you so much. You're so perfect. I'm so happy to finally meet you." _I crooned to her through my tears.

"_She's beautiful." _Iggy agreed. Movie-me looked up at him. There was a tear falling down his cheek.

"_Are you crying?"_ I asked laughing a little.

"_No, my eyes are sweating."_

"_Whatever." _We both looked down at our baby in wonder as she open her eyes looking up at us.

"See that's why we're doing this again." Said the Iggy who I was sitting. I was crying off-screen too.

"Yeah," I said touching my stomach Iggy put his hand on top of mine. I kissed him on the lips.

"Yeah, yeah we get it, you love each other and you love your kids. Now let's get onto the not soppy stuff." Fang said.

"Sure I can." Jacob said and got up to leave the room. He returned with a block of chocolate and gave it to Ally. A slightly younger Lily was onscreen sitting in the middle of the floor at our house. I knew this because of the mess of toys all over the ground.

"_Come on Lily say Mama!" _I encouraged from off camera.

"_No Lily, say Dada and you can have one of Dada's yummy cookies. You know Mama makes yucky cookies." _Iggy bribed her.

"_Hey! No bribery!"_

"_You tried to make her guilty 'I gave birth to you. You lived inside me.'" _he said this in a bad impression of me. There was a slap from behind camera. I had hit him. _"Ow! Spousal abuse! Spousal abuse!" _Iggy shouted. Everyone laughed.

"_You're such a wimp!"_ Then Fang walked into the room.

"_Fangy!" _Lily shrieked waving at him. He smiled and waved back. There were two gasps from behind the camera.

"_Do I win your little game?" _He asked us smirking.

"_Typical!" _I said._ "Kids today!"_

"_Can't respect their parents!" _Iggy agreed. We both got up and left the room.

"_Fangy! Fangy! Fangy!" _Lily giggled.

"_You're sure a pro at getting on your parents nerves, kiddo. I respect you for that." _Fang said as he picked Lily up.

"I remember that. You wouldn't speak to me for weeks!" Fang snorted. Iggy and I both glared at him.

"My turn to pick!" Nudge said and crawled down to box of movies. "What's this one?" she said putting a tape in the player. The camera was pointing out of some curtains to the front porch.

"_Quick, quick here they come. Turn the camera on." _Iggy said excitedly, as a fifteen year old Nudge and a boy of the same age walked up the stairs. They stood a couple of inches apart from each other.

"_This seems creepy. Why are we doing this?_" Gazzy asked sceptically.

"_Blackmail. Why else."_

"_Cool. Wait... who else do you have blackmail for?"_

"_Let's just say, I could easily become the leader of the flock if I felt like it." _Max looked livid.

"_Are you going to?"_

"_As if! Way too much work. I need Iggy time. Look he's going to kiss her this is blackmail gold!" _Nudge and the boy were in fact kissing. I decided by the expression on Nudge's face to get off Iggy as he would probably be dead soon. I went to sit by Lily on the ground.

"Siwwy Dada." She giggled and crawled onto my lap.

"You're dead Iggy!" Nudge screamed and lunged for him. Iggy jumped over the back off the chair and sprinted out of the room. Nudge was hot on his trail.

"Does Iggy have blackmail tapes?" Fang asked me. I shrugged.

"He says he does but I don't know where they are." I moved Lily and I into Iggy's vacated seat. Nudge came back into the room looking happy. Iggy followed a few seconds later with one hand held over his eye. He sniffed.

"Nudge hit me." he whined. I stood up and he sat back on the chair. I sat back on top of him. Lily squirmed back onto the floor and went to play with Shadow.

"Aww poor baby." I used the same tone I often used with Lily.

"Emphasis on baby." Ally snorted. I privately agreed. Iggy crossed his arms and scowled. He looked like a stubborn child. His eye was very red, it would probably bruise tomorrow.

"Sorry darling, I think you're going to have a black eye." I told him. He groaned. I settled back on his chest. Gazzy put a new movie on. Iggy and Fang were wrestling.

"_I'm driving!" _Fang yelled.

"_Nuh-uh you always drive it's my turn." _Iggy complained.

"_Because you're such a scary driver. Gazzy can drive better and he's only on his learners."_

"_I wasn't the one who hit that bus load of cheerleaders. Or was that on purpose? Come to think of it a few of them had red hair."_

"_Bye guys!" _Max and I called from the cab of a motor home. Iggy and Fang stopped fighting and looked like abandoned puppies as we drove away. The rest of the flock was laughing in the back, Nudge was holding the camera so it was shaking.

"_How far are we going before go back?"_ I said. I appeared to be about six months pregnant with Lily in this video. I remembered Iggy packing bag after bag of food, saying: "I am not going to make any midnight runs because of your annoying cravings." However, I showed him.

"_Five minutes, enough to make them sweat." _Max replied turning out of our windy driveway. She drove for a little while and turned around. Iggy and Fang were standing exactly as we left them. Fang and Iggy hung their heads in shame and hurried on board.

"_Have you learnt your lesson?" _I said patronisingly.

"_Yes."_ They chorused. Max started up the motor home and drove off again. Then the screen went black and Iggy and Nudge were onscreen.

"_Please Iggy." _Nudge begged.

"_Nope." _He said smugly

"_Come on. I hate sleeping outside. There are bugs."_

"_No way. I want to do things with my fiancée tonight that I don't want you listening to. There is no way you or anyone else is sleeping in that motor home. It's just me and Violet. We could do it in a tent but Violet is pregnant so we need a proper bed." _He turned and walked into the motor home.

"_Don't worry Nudge, I'll get him back for you. He's not getting any tonight. Sleep or sex that is." _I whispered to her before I followed Iggy into the motor home. Then it cut to Iggy coming out of the motor home then next morning looking very tired. His eyes were barely open and there were bags underneath them.

"_Coffee, need Coffee."_ He groaned. He was Zombie-like when he walked over to a seat.

"_Didn't sleep well Iggy?" _Max asked holding in a laugh.

"_No, I did not. Violet would not stop asking me to do stuff for her last night. 'Iggy my back hurts, can you rub it? Iggy I need to go to the bathroom, come with me. No I can't go by myself. I won't be able to get up if I have to go in the woods. I need you to come with me.' And I did all that stuff. But that wasn't the worst. Then she asked me to get her cheeseburger and some fries because she was craving it. I said I'd make her some but no, it had to be from McDonalds. I told her I was too tired to go and find a McDonalds and she started crying and saying I didn't love her so I ended up flying to town and wandering around in my pyjama's until I found a McDonalds. I get what she wants and I don't even get a single chip. So we finally get back into bed and she wraps herself up in the blankets like an Eskimo! I didn't get any blankets. I was shivering all night." _Then there was laughter. Iggy spun around and I was standing in the doorway in my dressing gown and slippers. My hair was tied up messily.

"_You stupid idiot. You actually fell for that." _I giggled.

"_What? Huh? You didn't actually need all of that stuff?"_

_No. That was for not letting the others sleep in the motor home. Of course they can. And while we are on the subject, you are not getting ANY sex for the rest of this camping trip!" _I turned and stormed back into the motor home. I opened the door again.

"_And get me some waffles!" _I shut the door again. Iggy stood there looking angry. Then he went over and started making waffle mix.

"That night, everyone else but Iggy, was in the motor home." Gazzy told Ally and Jake.

"I was in a freaking tent. And I still got woken up! Violet texted me at two AM telling me to go get her some doughnuts. And I knew that was a real craving because when I said no, she came outside and started kicking down my tent!" Iggy yelled.

"And now you have all that to look forward to again." I reminded him. He groaned. "Shh, this one's funny." I hushed Iggy as a new video came on screen. It was still from the camping trip. Iggy and Fang were on screen this time huddled together whispering, getting along for once.

"_So, we should follow that trail." _Iggy said pointing to something on a map. Fang snorted.

"_Yup," _Fang agreed, Max came over to them and looked down at the map.

"_How about this trail." _She suggested. The boy's both exchanged amused expressions.

"_Max, we're not taking that rail," _Fang said kindly as if Max had a lower intelligent.

"_I say we are. Who's the leader of the flock?"_

"_As the men of the family we have made a decision." _Iggy said smugly.

"_Men," _I snorted from the background. The camera focused on me. I was sitting in a chair, flicking though a magazine.

"_Ignore her, she's hormonal."_Iggy muttered to the others. I glared at him from behind sunglasses. I threw my magazine in his direction; it hit him smack on the head. _"See what I mean. I have to put up with this all the time. But I never complain. Aren't I a good husband and father-to-be."_

"_You won't become my husband if you don't shut up." _I grumbled. _"And bring that back to me." _I pointed to the magazine. Iggy obediently brought it back over.

"_Are you sure you don't want to come with us?" _He asked as he handed it over.

"_I'm sure, walking over roots and rocks is kind of hard when you can't your feet. I can barely walk without tripping on a flat surface. Hiking up a mountain wouldn't be the funest experience for me at the moment."_

"_I could carry you through all the hard bits."_

"_No darling, you go have fun. You put all the chocolate from home in your bag right?"_

"_I did,"_

"_Then I'll be fine. See you later. Love you." _Iggy bent down to kiss me.

"_Love you too. I don't think we'll be that long." _Iggy went over to join the others and they walked off into the trees. The screen went blank and then Iggy and Fang were standing side by side facing Max and Nudge they all looked angry.

"_We are going that way!" _Fang insisted pointing. Iggy nodding in agreement.

"_We'll get lost if we go that way. I've looked at the map. This one will lead us up the mountain and back down to the camping ground." _Max said

"_So will this one, we're not going to get lost. We are experienced Bushmen." _Iggy bragged. I heard Gazzy snort. He was standing behind Fang and Iggy with a bored expression on his face.

"_We all know what you do in bushes Iggy." _He commented. Iggy and I burst out laughing.

"Ahh, that bush." Iggy sighed with a distant expression on his face.

"So many memories." I agreed sentimentally. "How many times?"

"Just about every time we've been to Arizona. It's our bush."

"_You be quiet. Well Max, I guess if you're so insistent on going that way we should split up and see who makes it back first. Who's with me?"_ Iggy asked.

"_Me." _Said Fang Max glared at him and he shrugged.

"_I'm with Max."_Nudge piped up. _"Have fun getting lost boys. Because you so totally are going to." _An argument burst out between them all. Gazzy walked over to Angel who was holding the camera.

"_You can go with the girls if you want. I'd better go with dumb and dumber to make sure they don't walk off a cliff." _He offered.

"_Which one is dumber?"_ Angel asked curiously.

"_To be honest I don't know." _The scene changed to a bird's eye view of Iggy, Fang and Gazzy walking through trees.

"_Just admit, we're lost." _Gazzy sighed.

"_We're not lost." _Fang and Iggy said in unison.

"_We've passed that tree five times already."_

"_We can get out of here. I think all this stuff looks new." _Iggy said appeasingly.

"_Oh great, we're lost even further in the woods."_

"_We can't be lost. If we go this way then..." _Fang trailed off looking at a map and turning it around a few times _"Okay, maybe we're lost." _He admitted sheepishly.

"_We're not lost." _Iggy repeated. _"If we get lost, Violet will think I'm an idiot. She won't trust me with the baby. And I want to spend time with my daughter."_

"_Hey guys!" _Max's voice called from behind the camera. The guys all looked up. Gazzy spread his wings out and joined them in the sky. Fang and Iggy looked a little bit more hesitant.

"_I thought this was supposed to be a hiking trip?" _Iggy called up.

"_We did the whole trail and got back to the camping ground. We waited but you guys didn't show up so we came to look for you." _Nudge explained. _"You've gone completely off the trail." _The two of them reluctantly went up into the sky. In a few minutes of the girls teasing Fang and Iggy they were back at our camping site.

"_Where's Violet?" _Iggy said beginning to panic. He landed and ran over to the chair that I had been sitting that was now empty.

"_She's probably in the motor home." _Iggy ran into the motor home and two seconds later came back out looking frantic

"_She's not in there! What if I Tex is back and they've taken her! They could be running tests on her! She's probably scared and in pain! No, they want to test the baby! My baby! No, no, no! We've got to go find her!" _Iggy was running around like a headless chicken.

"_Hey, how was the hiking?" _I asked coming up from behind Iggy. He turned around breathing a sigh of relief.

"_Violet!" _Iggy exclaimed running up to me. He hugged me, lifting me off my feet. _"God, I was so worried. Don't scare me like that again."_

"_I went to the bathroom. What did you think had happened?" _Iggy looked embarrassed.

"_Oh nothing. Hey is that the baby kicking?" _Everyone laughed at Iggy's lame cover-up. The next movie started still keeping in with the camping trip theme. Iggy and I were lying on a picnic blanket while someone was filming us. It was obvious we didn't know what was going on as we seemed totally absorbed in each other.

"_Iggy is going to pay." _Max muttered.

"_Him and his stupid blackmail, he's always bragging about." _Fang said bitterly.

"_The black-mailer is about to become blackmailee." _Nudge agreed.

"_Okay, I get that we need to get some revenge on him but how is this blackmail?" _Angel asked. _"They're just sitting around talking, having a picnic."_

"_Iggy has that face on." _Gazzy explained.

"_He's about to get completely mushy about his 'darling baby girl.'" _Fang sniggered.

"_He's going to have an extremely long one-sided conversation with Violet's stomach." _Max elaborated. Iggy had crawled up beside me so my stomach was in his line of slight.

"_Hello baby, I can't wait to meet you." _He cooed to it. _"You're going to be the most beautiful little girl ever. Just like your mama. You will be so loved and cared for. By your parents and all your assorted aunts and uncles. I know Uncle Fang is a bit angry at daddy over you at the moment but I can tell he's excited and of course you'll win him over. Because you're so adorable." _I smiled at him and put a hand on my stomach.

"_She loves the sound of your voice." _I told him sitting up slightly. I put his hand on my stomach. _"See?"_ Iggy grinned.

"_I don't know if I can wait three months."_

"_Well there's a certain thing happening next month that you might be looking forward to. At least when that's done I can start focusing on the baby. I've been so busy with the wedding that I've barely done anything."_

"_I've got something for her." _Iggy reached over and gave me a shopping bag. I started looking inside it. _"I saw it and I thought it would be perfect for her." _I pulled out a cleaner, newer looking Mr Snuffles. From where she was sitting on the floor Lily squealed and pointed, hugging the older, more loved Mr Snuffles.

"_Oh, it's so cute." _I said softly. _"I know she'll love it. You've got this parenting thing down already."_

"_Well I've got a pretty good co-parent." _I pulled Iggy close to me and started kissing him. We made out for a little while before I started pulling off Iggy's shirt. _"I thought I wasn't getting any for the rest of the camping trip?"_

"_I changed my mind. Do you want to argue?"_

"_No ma'am." _Iggy flicked a quick glance in the direction of the camera and smirked evilly as if he had a plan. _"Let's take this into the motor home; it will be more comfortable for you." _He picked me up and started carrying me in that direction still kissing me. There was panic from behind the camera.

"_Let's get out of here. I don't want to hear this." _Fang shuddered.

"_But if we leave, they'll see us and know we've been eavesdropping. We're supposed to be at the lake." _Max hissed.

"_And Violet is not someone to mess with at the moment. And if we get in the way of Iggy getting some he'll be pissed."_ Gazzy added.

"_We'll have to hide and block our ears." _Nudge suggested. The door started opening and they all dived to hide and the camera switched off.

"That was the day we all got scared for life." Fang shuddered. "I never, ever want to hear that again!"

"Well, you shouldn't have been eavesdropping on us then." I said.

"No one can out blackmail me. I heard you guys in there. Paybacks a bitch ain't it Fang?" Iggy said smugly.

"You're wrong there Iggy." Jacob said with a laugh while Ally smiled at Iggy.

"What do you mean?" Iggy asked.

"I'm better." Ally said. This would be interesting. Iggy was good at blackmail but he did have a few gaps in his knowledge.

"No way." Iggy laughed confidently.

"Ever cross me and you'll find out how good I am at blackmail." Ally warned him.

"Sure, sure." Someone switched on another movie. I yawned and started feeling really tired. I shut my eyes and dozed off.

*~*~*~*~*

I woke as Iggy was carrying me down the pathway to our home. The house was just in sight between the trees.

"Huh, what?" I said looking around. He smiled.

"You fell asleep. You were quite entertaining."

"What did I do?"

"Does 'Tess, stay away from Iggy. I've got a gun,' ring any bells?" I groaned, that had been my dream.

"I sleep talked, didn't I?"

"Yes my dear, you did."

"I must have sounded like an idiot."

"No, it was sweet. That you love me that much. But you know you're the only one for Me." he opened the door to our house.

"Where's Lily." I yawned.

"I'm going to go back and get her now." he set me on the ground. "Go and get ready for bed, I'll be two minutes. Love you." He kissed me on the lips and started jogging down the path.


	4. Garden

**Chapter Four- Garden**

My eyes opened slowly squinting at the bright light coming through the venetian blinds. I rolled over in bed and found Iggy awake and out of bed already. I heard high pitched giggles from the living room so I guessed Lily was up too. I rolled out of bed. I felt slightly sick. But I still wandered down the hallway to the lounge. Iggy was tickling Lily who was rolling around laughing hysterically. They stopped for a moment when I came in.

"Good morning." I said to them going over and kissing both of their foreheads. I picked up Lily and went to sit on the couch. Iggy sat down next to us.

"My girls." He said hugging us both. "And my potential girl but possible boy."

"I want sister." Lily commented snuggling into my chest.

"Somehow I guessed that." I told her and she smiled. "Hey I have an idea." I said to the both of them.

"What?" Iggy asked.

"How about we invite everyone around for breakfast." Iggy groaned but Lily gave me a giant smile. "Come on it'll be fun. We have too much food anyway."

"Violet. We can never have too much food. But fine, whatever you want." I picked up the phone and started dialling the Flocks number. Fang picked up on the third ring.

"Yo?" He said.

"Hey Fang it's Violet."

"Hey Vi, how are things. Did you clean up the dust bunnies?"

"Shut up or I might change my mind about asking you guys round for breakfast."

"Shutting up."

"Glad to hear it. See you in half an hour?"

"Sounds good. Thanks Vi." I hung up. Lily climbed down off my lap and went to play with her dolls on the floor.

"They're coming." I told Iggy.

"I guess you'd better get dressed then. You can't lie around in your pyjamas all day."

"I just got up! I woke up like two minutes ago. I would love to lie around in my pyjamas all day though. Especially with the way I'm feeling."

"Morning sickness?" I nodded. Iggy wrapped his arms around me. I cuddled up to him.

"I haven't thrown up yet but I feel like crap. I always get it bad."

"Poor thing."

"I've got a headache and I'm tired too. I feel like I haven't properly slept. It'll pass though. I'll be fine."

"You sure, I could tell them all to get stuffed, if you want to go lie down."

"Nah, I'd just feel worse if I lay around feeling sorry for myself. If I get too tired I'll nap this afternoon."

"Okay, I just worry about you, my dear." He pushed the hair out of my face. "You look really pale. As pale as me!"

"Stop fussing. I'm honestly fine. I'm going to go take a shower and I should feel better after that. Can you get Lily dressed? There are clothes on top of her dresser that she can wear."

"Yup, I can do that."

"Thanks darling." I kissed him on the cheek and went to the bathroom to have a shower. I dressed plainly and went into the kitchen where I found Iggy cooking with Lily sitting on the bench blabbering away. Iggy was looking at her like she was the most importing thing in the world. Well to him, and me for that matter, I guess she was. There was a lot you could say about Iggy but he was pretty good dad. He doted on Lily, spoiling her whenever the opportunity arose.

I could hear talking outside the front of the house, I went to open the door but Lily called to me.

"Come too mama?"

"Sure thing cupcake." I said as I lifted her of the bench and put her on the ground. She grabbed onto my hand. We walked to the front door and I opened it. I smiled when I saw them all, but Lily ran straight at Shadow, her floaty pink dress flying out behind her as she did. She pretty much jumped at him, giving him a massive hug. Shadow looked awkward as if he hadn't expected it but he eventually hugged her back, which made her pull back with a giant smile on her face which was so much like Iggy's.

Lily bounced back up the steps and reached for me to pick her up, which I did gladly. I lead everyone into our dining room and sat down at the table, putting Lily in her highchair which had been pulled up to the table next to me.

"Iggy's finishing up cooking and will be through in a minute." I explained to everyone as they sat down. Everyone took their regular seats with Ally, Jacob and Shadow filling in the gaps. There was an empty seat on the other side of Lily for Iggy to sit in.

"Thanks for inviting us over Violet." Max told me as she grabbed Fang's hand.

"Its fine, we've wanted you guys over for a meal for a while and since Ally, Jake and Shadow are here we thought what the hell let's do it." I said with a small smile. Iggy came through the door with two plates piled high with bacon and eggs.

"More to come guys." Iggy put the eggs down the other end of the table and the bacon right in front of me. Bacon normally smelled good to me, but with my already nauseous stomach it just smelled oily and fatty. I clapped my hand over my mouth and nose trying not to breathe it in, so I wouldn't throw up over everyone.

"Can you move the bacon Iggy... Quick." I practically begged. Iggy took one look at me and quickly moved the bacon next to the eggs.

"Be right back." He said giving me a worried look as he went back into the kitchen returning with sausages, hash browns and pancakes. As he sat down everyone started filling their plates. The others were practically inhaling their food. Not wanting to upset my stomach any further, I only took one pancake and picked at it. Stupid morning sickness.

"You know Ig, this is really good." Ally said, Iggy dropped his fork with a stunned expression on his face.

"Did you just compliment me? Jacob, I think you need to check if she's a clone." Ally glared at him. Unfortunately being replaced by a clone is an all too possible scenario for us. My clone was still running around somewhere as far as I knew.

"No, not a clone. I'm just in a really good mood, which you're ruining." We chattered quietly for another few minutes, when Ally asked the worst question ever.

"Who planted the garden?" Everyone but Ally, Jacob, Shadow, Iggy and Lily groaned in unison.

"You had to ask." I sighed shaking my head.

"I did." Iggy said with a smug grin.

"You planted a garden?" Ally asked amazed.

"It's pretty good, right? It took me forever but I did it and everyone loves it." He bragged. Him and that garden, he was proud and protective of it. It was like a second child to him. Well technically first because he was working on it years before Lily was even conceived but luckily he spent more time with Lily than with the garden.

"He nearly camped outside during winter so his roses wouldn't die. I dragged him inside when he started getting hypothermia. I ended up taking him to the hospital. I don't think I've ever seen a doctor laugh about hypothermia other than when they read how it happened." I said rolling my eyes. Iggy was staring dreamily out the window still going on about the damn garden.

"That garden took me ages and lot of hard work but I finally achieved perfection. Isn't it the most beautiful thing ever?"

"Iggy, have you taken something because you're day dreaming about a garden." Ally asked. It made me laugh. Ally and I would get along just fine. Iggy glared at her before returning his gaze out the window.

"It's the most beautiful thing in the world... other than Violet of course." He added on at the end with a nervous laugh. Oh, he was in for it.

"Nice save, but it's too late. Don't expect any for awhile." I told him. We started talking again, as I continued to pick at my solitary pancake. Iggy and I talked to Max and Fang.

"You watching the football game tonight?" Fang asked Iggy taking a bite of hash brown.

"Better than that, I'm going to it." Iggy boasted.

"What!? How the hell did you get tickets?"

"Emma. I'm going with Dave." Emma and Dave were some of our closest friends. They were getting married in two weeks. Dave and Iggy were freakily similar and had a kinda bromance thing going on. Emma worked at a ticketing agency so we got free tickets to everything. Emma and Dave were also Lily's godparents.

"Crap," I exclaimed. "Do you think I'll still fit into my bridesmaid dress for their wedding?" I asked Iggy.

"Yes, it's in two weeks you'll be fine." He said reassuringly. "If not, it will be easily adjustable. Bloody hell, can you imagine Dave getting married."

"Yes, I can. You got married. So, you're going out tonight?"

"If that's okay with you. I won't go if you don't want me to." Iggy was such a worrier sometimes.

"I'll be fine, you worry wart. Go have fun with Dave. I might take Lily around to mom's house and tell everyone you knocked me up again."

"Yeah, you'd better." Fang said. "She rang me this morning, and she said 'I'm worried about Violet, I called her two days ago and she sounded weird and distant. Have you seen her lately.' I told her you were fine but had something to tell her."

"I'd better give her a call after breakfast. Thanks Fang."

"No problem baby sis." I hoped Lily and the baby would have the relationship that Fang and I shared. It was unconventional but he was my brother and I loved him. For a brother, he was one of the best.

"Uncy Fangy." Lily said.

"Yes Lils?" He asked.

"I know what sound a cow makes."

"Oh really what sound does it make?"

"Moo."

"Well, aren't you a clever little thing. Give me a high-five kiddo." Fang held his hand up and Lily high-fived it. "Do you know any other animal sounds?" Lily nodded eagerly. "How about a cat."

"Meow."

"Very smart. A dog?"

"Woof."

"And another name for a dog is a-" Shadow began. Ally quickly covered his mouth.

"Who taught him that?" She asked glaring around the room. Iggy slunk down in his chair.

"Whoops." He said.

"You're dead." Ally growled. Iggy jumped up.

"I'd uh better call Dave about tonight. He might want to go for a drink before the game." he sprinted from the room. I turned to Ally. Now was the perfect chance to ask Ally about something I had been thinking over in my head overnight, but I hid it in my thoughts.

"How are you enjoying the box room?" I asked. Max and Fang had a tiny guest room. If I hadn't fallen asleep, I would have suggested they stay in our guest room, despite all the crap that was stored in there it was much larger. I think there were even a few unpacked boxes from when we moved in.

"It's really... cosy." Ally said trying to find a polite word to describe the guest room. I laughed.

"Anyway, I wanted to ask you and Jacob something."

"Um okay, what is it?"

"Would you, Jacob and Shadow like to move in with Iggy, Lily and I."

"Nooooo!" I heard Iggy scream from the kitchen. He ran into the room with the phone in his hand. "Dave, I'm going to have to call you back. Violet has finally lost it... I will man, I will." He hung up the phone and turned to me. "But Violet." He whined. "If you love me you won't do this. I can't live in the same house as Ally. She'll torture me."

"I resent that." Ally said quickly. Her torturing him would actually be good for him. Deflate his ego a bit.

"No Iggy, there isn't enough room at the Flock's house so they can move in with us. They're family and it'd be nice to have another adult woman in the house to talk to at night. You can start expanding the house tomorrow. I've already got plans." I told him sternly. Ally and Jacob seemed to be thinking it over.

"We'd love to." Jacob told me.

"That's great. You can move in as soon as construction finishes." I smiled at them taking another miniscule bite of pancake. Iggy was sulking in the corner. "Grow some why don't you darling."

*~*~*~*~*~*

After everyone had left, I decided to give my mom a call. Iggy was doing the dishes while Lily played on the floor in front of me.

"Hello?" My sister Fleur answered. At eighteen, she was the elder of my two sisters

"Hey Fleur, it's Violet."

"Oh hi. Mom's been doing her nut in about you."

"I've heard."

"So, what's going on then?"

"Nothing."

"I can tell there's something. Let me guess... Iggy knocked you up again, didn't he." I was gobsmacked. How the hell did she guess? She must be almost physic or something.

"Um..."

"He did! Didn't he?"

"Yeah." There was squealing from the other end of the line. "Fleur! Shut up! I want to tell mom myself."

"Okay, okay. Oh my god congratulations. I can't believe I'm going to be an aunt again. I'll put mom on. Bye!"

"Bye Fleur." I heard scuffling as the phone was handed over to mom.

"Hello honey." She greeted me with her slight French accent.

"Hi mom. How are you?"

"I'm good. And how about you?"

"I'm really great actually."

"You sound very happy. And how is my darling granddaughter."

"She's playing at the moment. Anyway there's something I need to tell you."

"Okay, fire away."

"I'm pregnant."

"Oh honey, that's so great, congratulations. I'm sure you'll be a great mother again."

"Thanks, but you'll there if I need help? Right?"

"Of course darling. I always will be. Not that you need it."

**A/N: Hey guys, glad you like story and thanks for the reviews. As an added incentive to review if you do so you will get a teaser of the next chapter before anyone else! **


	5. Queer eye for the straight guy

**Chapter Five- Queer Eye for the straight guy**

Iggy and I were staring at a wall. It wasn't just any wall. It was one of the four walls in our baby's room. Our house had been renovated and it was now seven bedrooms! It was massive but it was the perfect amount of space for soon to be eight people. Ally was going to give birth any day now and I had a small baby bump. The day I discovered it was pretty much a disaster.

_Flashback_

_I let out a high pitched scream staring at the mirror in absolute horror. Iggy sprinted into the room._

_"What?! What?!" He asked worriedly looking for blood. I spun around to face him, tears welling in my eyes._

_"Look at it." I said in horror pointing at my slightly sticking out stomach._

_"It's your stomach." He said slowly._

_"Yes, but look how big it is." I sobbed._

_"I don't really see that much of a difference."_

_"Maybe not now. But soon I'll start to get really fat and you won't think I'm beautiful anymore." Iggy came up to me and wrapped his arms around my waist. I sobbed into his chest._

_"Silly Violet, I will always think you're beautiful." He kissed me on the top of my head. "Stop getting all worked up over little things like that. I love you and that's all that matters."_

_End Flashback_

"So colours." I said. It was early in the afternoon so Lily was napping and we were taking the opportunity to start on decorating the baby's room. We'd been out this morning to get paint charts and samples.

"Yes colours." Iggy nodded.

"What about if we do the framework, this colour." I said holding up a baby blue. "And the walls, this colour." I now held up an off-white. Iggy sighed as if I was stupid or something giving me a patronising look.

"Violet you have absolutely no sense of colour co ordination."

"What's wrong with these colours?" I demanded glaring at him.

"What's right with them? Violet, oh young and inexperienced Violet, that's an off-white. For it work with that blue that you've got in mind it has to be a Spanish white. You know why don't you go put up your fit, I can handle this." My jaw dropped open as I stared at him in shock.

"Oh my god, are you kidding me. Have you joined the cast of queer eye for the straight guy?"

"What?"

"You're in the closet!"

"No!"

"This explains so much. I'm married to a gay man! Oh well at least you can be my gay friend now. We can go for shopping trips and manicures."

"I'm going to forget about this conversation because you are pregnant and hormonal."

"Don't try to blame my hormones for your sexuality. Fine, I'm leaving, you stay and decorate. Why don't you call around the Fab Five to help you out!" With that I turned on my heel and ran down into the kitchen grabbing the phone. I dialled Emma at work, sat on the bench and waited anxiously for her to pick up.

"Hello?"

"Emma! I am in full crisis mode!" I shrieked into the phone.

"What's going on?" She asked curiously.

"Iggy is gay!" I exclaimed. Emma gasped.

"Well it would explain why he and Dave are so close."

"Oh god! That makes perfect sense! The football games. The road trip to Vegas. They were all chance for them to carry on a gay little affair together." I was squealing this into the phone.

"You're right. Oh my god, all that time we were thinking they only went to the football for the cheerleaders and now they we discover they're just using it as a cover!"

"I bet they didn't go to Vegas but on some gay cruise."

"They're going to leave us! For each other!"

"You think you've got it bad, I'm going to be left to raise two kids on my own. Except Iggy will have them every second weekend."

"He'll take them to his and Dave's condo."

"Yes, they'll share a condo together."

"Crap, my boss is telling me to get off the phone. We'll get together and eat chocolate and moan about our gay husbands sometime next week. Kay?"

"Yep, that sounds like a good idea. See ya." I hung up the phone. How could I distract myself from the gay boy upstairs? The feather duster was lying on the kitchen bench. I picked it up and started dusting. By the time I had finished the dining room, I was happily flitting around dusting everything. I bounced into the lounge cheerfully with a spring in my step where Ally was sitting on the couch.

"You look like a fairy on crack." She laughed as I scowled. I was cleaning to distract myself, what was wrong with that.

"No, I just enjoy cleaning." I said to defend myself. It wasn't like anyone else in the house ever did any. I finished dusting downstairs and contemplated between vacuuming and doing the laundry when I heard Lily crying upstairs. I guess the cleaning would have to wait. I hurried upstairs into her room and found her standing up in her cot waiting for me. I picked her up.

"Hey there cupcake." I greeted her.

"Hi mama." She said sleepily, rubbing her eyes, trying to wake up more.

"Did you have a good sleep?" she nodded. I took a quick peek in her diaper. It was full. I lay her down on the changing table and began to change her. Then I had a sudden idea.

"Hey Lils, do you want to go for a swim?" We had gotten a pool with the renovations and it and come in handy in these hot summer months. Now was the best time to spend time with Lily because I knew that in a few months I wouldn't have much energy to do anything but lie around and sleep. And scream at Iggy of course. I always had enough energy to do that.

"Oh yes mama. I would love to. Just you and me"

"Okay, sit still for a moment while I find you some togs." I searched though her draws quickly finding her favourite pink and purple ones. Despite that fact that I was in no way a girly girl I never mind dressing my daughter in very girly clothes. Funny how life works out that way. I finished changing her, put sun block on her and let her play while I myself got changed into a skimpy red bikini. I decided to have a little fun of my own.

I went to get Lily and as I was walking back to her room, I passed Iggy. I saw his jaw drop open and he struggled to compose himself.

"Violet, how about we take a swim together, if you get what I mean." He winked at me suggestively.

"Is that all that's on your mind." I said rolling my eyes exasperatedly. "Sorry Iggy, I'm taking our daughter for a swim. Some mother-daughter bonding time. You can't join us. You're going to have to wait." As I walked past him I carefully brushed up against him and he groaned in frustration. I know how to push his buttons. The red bikini always did it. Feeling extremely pleased with myself I picked up Lily and took her down stairs. I heard Ally call out.

"Nice work Violet."

"Thank you." I replied with a laugh. It was nice knowing that I could still drive Iggy crazy when I wanted despite being four and half months pregnant. I defiantly still had it. Lily had a lovely afternoon together in the pool. After we got tired of swimming we sat in the sunshine. I noticed Iggy watching out the window looking longingly at me. I just gave him a seductive look and turned my attention back to Lily.

*~*~*~*~*

For dinner I just threw a dress over my togs. Iggy was putting food on the table.

"Iggy." I greeted him stiffly sitting down. He glared at me muttering something about 'sexy evil Violet.' That made me grin. Jacob walked into the room and sat down in his chair shifting awkwardly as he felt the tension in the air. Lily and Shadow were playing together on the floor near us. Ally walked in and sat down so we could begin putting food on our plates. Just to annoy Iggy further I started humming 'Ur so gay' by Katy Perry under my breath so that Iggy who was sitting right next to me would be the only one to hear it.

"Would you stop?!" He exclaimed as I was reaching the chorus.

"Stop what?" I asked innocently.

"Humming that song."

"Humming, I'm not humming. Do you guys hear humming?" I asked Ally and Jacob who shook their heads. "Darling, I think you're hallucinating. Oh dear." I said putting a finger on my lips and battering my eyelashes at Iggy, in a flirtatious manner. I saw his fists clench like he restraining himself, so it was working. "Iggy, would you like some baby carrots?" I asked in a fakely kind way.

"Why baby carrots?" Iggy enquired cautiously, looking confused.

"Because your gay and guess what they look like? I thought you might want some." The room went silent.

"Some want to catch us up?" Ally asked nervously as if she hoped our anger wasn't directed at her.

"No-" Iggy began but I abruptly cut him off.

"Yes, I would. It would be my pleasure. Basically I found out I have a gay husband who should be on queer eye for the straight guy." I told them causally spooning more food onto my plate.

"When did that happen?" Jacob asked

"This afternoon when we were looking at colours for the baby's nursery. Iggy kept saying that colours didn't match when they did, 'No Violet. That's off white. It has to be Spanish white.' Like anyone but him would be able to tell. He wouldn't let me help at all. Not to mention his garden and the fact he can cook. Plus his clothes always match." I started on my meal when I finished my tirade with a smirk at Iggy.

"I always had a feeling he was." Ally said with a sweet smile in Iggy's direction. "If you want to come out of the closet, we're here for you." He glared at Ally before standing up almost knocking his chair over in the process.

"I'll prove to you I'm not gay." He yelled lifting me up out of my chair and running from the room. I laughed in delight as he carried me up the stairs because I knew exactly what he was going to do and I was so on board. He sprinted into our bedroom, kicking the door shut on the way in.

*~*~*~*~*~*

It was two hours later and we were still going at it. The hormones that upped my sex drive had kicked in and I was prepared to do this all night long. Obviously Iggy was so we were good.

"Iggy, don't ever go gay. I'd miss this too much." I sighed.

"I don't plan on it." there was a thudding on the wall. "Don't tell me they're doing it too." Iggy whispered.

"Can the humping jack rabbits in the next room keep it in their pants?" Ally called. Oops, had we been making that much noise. I blushed.

"No, we're a little busy." Iggy replied before kissing me again. I got distracted again until I heard Ally yell.

"Oh shit!"

"What wrong?" I asked concernedly "Iggy stop that. Now is not the time." I said giving him a quick whack on the shoulder.

"Someone call an ambulance." Ally said.

"What's wrong Al?" Jake asked.

"My waters just broke." Iggy and I both detangled from each other and sat up.

"WHAT?!" We exclaimed in unison. Tonight would be an interesting night.


	6. My grey blob

**Chapter Six- My Grey Blob**

Iggy and I both scrambled to get out of bed, but we got tangled up in the sheets and fell onto the ground with a yelp. Luckily my fall was cushioned by him.

"Ouch." He winced.

"You think you're in fucking pain! Try being me!" Ally screamed at him. Scampering to our feet we raced each other to the wardrobe. When we were dressed, I grabbed my car keys off the bedside table and hurried out into the hallway. Jacob was supporting Ally. I threw my keys at him and he caught them.

"Take my car and we'll follow you in Iggy's car with the kids. Good luck Ally." I said chirpily. Ally just gave me a scowl and they left. Iggy turned to me a soon as they were out of earshot.

"So can we go back to our activities?" he asked wrapping his arms around my waist. As much as I wanted to, we really couldn't.

"No, Ally is having a baby. We have to wake up the kids and follow them to the hospital. Now you go wake up Lily and get her dressed. I'll get Shadow. Put a jacket on her too. I'll meet you in the car." Iggy sighed and vanished into Lily's room. I went down the hall into Shadow's room. I leaned over him.

"Hey Shadow, wake up." I sat down on the edge of the bed as he opened his eyes and rubbed them. "Your mummy is having the baby."

"Can't mummy wait to have the baby in the morning?" He yawned. This made me laugh. It was so cute.

"Not really honey, babies don't really like to wait." I went over to his dresser to get him out some clothes. When I produced something colourful he gave me an are-you-serious look. With a sigh I put them back and found him dark jeans, a black t-shirt and a dark-grey hoodie, which was more to his liking. We went down to the garage and where Iggy and Lily were waiting for us in Iggy's massive four-wheel drive. It was a stereo-typically manly car which made me wonder if Iggy was compensating for something.

I put Shadow into a car seat and got in the passenger seat next to Iggy who was driving. As Iggy was backing down the driveway, I looked over at Lily, who was under a blanket, hugging Mr Snuffles, she looked quite tired, as if she was about to go back to sleep at any minute. She looked adorable though. We drove to the hospital in silence, Iggy grinned as he took the shortcut there.

"This cuts like ten-fifteen minutes of the drive. We might beat them there."

"Iggy..." I said warningly. "Don't go making trouble."

"I'm not making trouble." Iggy pulled into the hospital car park. He drove around for awhile looking for a park. When he found one I got out of the car and took Lily out of the car seat, keeping her wrapped in the blanket. She was awake but barely.

"Mama, I'm tired." She whined, she sounded on the verge of tears.

"I know baby, go to sleep." I ran my fingers through her hair and let her bury her face in my shoulder. As Iggy had sprinted ahead of us in his mission to arrive before Ally and Jacob, Shadow held my hand that wasn't holding Lily. When we got to the waiting room, Iggy was relaxed out in a chair looking as if he had been there for ages.

"You're going to get your ass kicked." I told him as I sat down. Shadow crawled up into a chair beside me. A quick glance at Lily told me she was fast asleep.

"I'm not gonna get my ass kicked." He said smugly.

"Maybe I should let you hold Lily so their less tempted to kill you." But I was quiet reluctant to give up the warm, little, sleeping body snuggled into me.

"I'll be fine." he smirked. Ally and Jacob came into the waiting room. Iggy snickered. "Hey guys, what took you so long? Did you walk or something?"

"No we drove. How the fuck did you get here before us?" Ally asked looking extremely agitated.

"Now, now, language. No need to corrupt the children." Iggy tutted. Ally looked as if she wanted to kill him. Jacob was holding her back.

"You can attack him after you've had the baby." Ally sighed and turned her attention to Shadow. He ran up to her hugging her.

"I love you baby. Make sure to keep Uncle Iggy and Aunty Violet far apart." He nodded and went to sit back down as Ally and Jacob went towards the corridor.

"Have fun!" Iggy called after them with a cackle.

"You are an idiot." I sighed shaking my head.

"And you love me for it."

"Yeah, I guess." I let him kiss me.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

An hour or so later the rest of the flock showed up. Fang, Iggy and Gazzy were grouped together talking.

"So, I guess we're gonna be here for awhile." Iggy sighed.

"Care to make it interesting?" Fang asked and Iggy and Gazzy sat up eagerly knowing what he meant.

"Hell yes, ten bucks that it's a girl." Iggy said.

"Ten on a boy then." Fang added on.

"What does that leave me with?" Gazzy asked. Fang and Iggy exchanged expressions.

"Hermaphrodite." They said in unison.

"I'd rather keep my money." Gazzy scoffed.

"Scared of losing?" Fang teased.

"Ah Gaz, I guess you just don't have the balls to play with the big boys." Iggy taunted. I could see that Gazzy was getting angry at the other two.

"Fine, ten on a girl."

"I knew I taught you right. You truly are my protégée. Now, go hit on that nurse over there." Iggy told Gazzy with a pat on the back. He pushed him in the direction of the nurse he had been referring to. Gazzy reluctantly went over to the nurse and started talking to her.

"Five bucks she rejects him." Fang muttered to Iggy.

"You're on. I taught him well." Gazzy came back over a few minutes later grinning from ear to ear.

"I got a number AND we're going to the cafeteria now." He said excitedly. Iggy gave him high-five, looking proud.

"Nice work man, now remember everything I taught you about going on dates." Iggy called after Gazzy as he and the nurse left. Iggy turned to Fang with a smirk. "Pay up." He commanded holding his hand out. Fang pulled his wallet out and put a five dollar bill into Iggy's palm. "Thank you." Iggy pocketed the bill and came over to where I was sitting, still holding a sleeping Lily, with Shadow sleeping while leaning into my side.

"Look Violet! I won five dollars!" he told me proudly.

"Well done, now take that five dollars to the cafeteria and by me a big slice of cake." I instructed giving him a dazzling smile that I knew would make his heart melt. He pouted. "Please, the baby wants cake!" Iggy sighed loudly and stood up.

"The things I do for you."

"Thank you darling. I love you." Iggy gave me a long-suffering look and went to get me my cake. He was a good husband.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Iggy sighed loudly. I turned to look at him.

"What?" I asked and Lily stirred slightly in my arms.

"I'm horny." He complained. "We got interrupted. I don't like being interrupted during sex. It makes me feel weird."

"How do you think I feel? I've got all these weird hormones rushing around. One minute I want to have sex with you then the next I'm crying for no reason!" I noticed a janitor's closet down the hall. "Fang watch Lily for me please." I said passing her to him. I grabbed Iggy's hand and lead him down the hall; I pulled him into the janitor's closest and wrapped my arms around his neck.

"You are the best wife ever. Have I told you that recently?" he said kissing me. God, it felt good. I pulled of his shirt and he started working on removing mine.

"FIRE!" Jacob yelled from outside the door. Iggy looked around excitedly.

"Where?!"

"Oh, so fire is more exciting than having sex with me?" I said angrily.

"My work here is done. Ally could hear your dirty thoughts and it was distracting her. So keep it in your pants okay?"

"Never!" Iggy yelled. I was, surprisingly, nodding in agreement. And then there was an ear splitting yell in my head.

_I'm in Shitloads of pain you morons, I don't want to hear you doing that crap! If you don't stop I'll rip your heads off._

"Is your head hurting as much as mine?" I said rubbing my forehead. Iggy nodded with a pained look in his eyes. My head hurt but I was more frustrated that our janitor closest fun had been interrupted. This was so unlike me at all. I threw Iggy's shirt at him and shoved the closet door open. I stormed past Jacob glaring at him. I was acting very out of character. I sat down in a chair in the waiting room, crossing my arms scowling. Iggy sat beside me with a similar expression. To distract myself I turned my attention to the TV. Unfortunately, it was an episode of Grey's Anatomy where two of the main characters were having sex in a janitor's closet.

"I'm jealous." I spat venomously. Iggy looked at the TV screen confused.

"What? About the guy. He's not that good looking." Iggy laughed nervously sounding slightly threatened. I rolled my eyes.

"Not about the guy! I want to do that... with you... now." I groaned, shutting my eyes and slumping down in my seat.

"Is it that time in your pregnancy where you're all sex-crazed?" I opened my eyes and nodded at him. He wrapped his arms around me and pressed his face into my hair.

"I don't want to do it now because Ally is in labour and it will distract her but I want to do it because of all the weird hormones." My eyes were welling with tears of frustration.

"Maybe you're just tired. Why don't you get some rest?" I snuggled into his chest and fell asleep.

*~*~*~*~*~*

When I woke up I was covered in Iggy's jacket and still cuddled up to him. Lily was sitting on his knee and he was reading her a story.

"And they all lived happily ever after." He finished shutting the book. Lily looked over at me.

"Mama!" She greeted me crawling over onto my lap.

"Morning darling," I yawned turning to Iggy. "Good morning dear." The baby gave me a few good morning kicks, as if he or she didn't want to be left out. "Oh and hello to you too baby. What's the time?"

"It's about half-past seven."

"When did she wake up?" I gave Lily a kiss on the top of her head.

"About ten minutes ago." He looked so cute with his hair all messed up. I shook my head to snap myself out of it.

"Mummy, daddy, can we play with the toys together?" Iggy and I both nodded and the three of us, sat on the ground playing. A couple of hours later Jacob came into the waiting room and gestured for us all to follow him. He went down a hall and into a room. Ally was in bed rocking a dark-haired baby with brown eyes.

"Hi Ally, omg was it painful? Of course it was painful, I mean you just squeezed something the size of a water melon out of your, well you know. What gender? What's the baby's name?" Nudge babbled. Iggy looked grossed out as did Gazzy and Fang.

"The baby is a girl and her name is Typa." Oh, what a cute name. We all grouped around Ally cooing and awing at the baby. Typa wriggled her tiny hands free of her blanket and clapped them together. So adorable. The guys clapped Jacob on the back and us girls hugged Ally.

"Hey baby, do you want to come sit up her with me and see your baby sister?" Ally asked Shadow, who nodded and crawled up onto the bed. Shadow watched the baby for awhile, before grinning at Ally who returned his smile. Typa flung out her hand and grabbed onto Shadow's finger which made his smile bigger.

"Okay, I'm going to pass her round okay?" Ally told us, before addressing Nudge. "But Nudge you're going to have to stop bouncing before I give her to you." Nudge immediately stopped and held her arms out. Ally passed Typa to her. Everyone had a turn at holding her with the girls having more than one turn each.

"Mummy, how come Shadow gets sister and I don't?" Lily pouted at me, while everyone laughed. I patted her curls. I started thinking about my baby dreamily. Until Ally said something that snapped me out of my daydream.

"I can't believe it's eleven already." Uh-oh. I had a doctor's appointment in fifteen minutes. And this wasn't any doctor's appointment. I was going to have an ultrasound that would find out whether the baby was a boy or a girl. Iggy and I exchanged expressions of realisation.

"Oh, shit!" We swore in unison. We jumped up and pretty much ran out of the room and down the corridor.

*~*~*~*~*~*

We made it to our appointment with barely anytime to spare. As soon as we sat down my name was called and we were lead into the doctor's room. The nurse took my blood pressure and weight and I gave the usual samples. I given a paper gown and I put it on. The nurse prepared me for the ultrasound and told me to wait for the doctor.

"Last chance to change your mind about wanting to know if it's a girl or boy?" I asked Iggy. He held my hand.

"I want to know. But only if you do."

"I do."

"Then let's do this thing, see if we get another darling girl or a little boy. That will be different."

"You'll love it though, having a son. He'll be just like you."

"You say that like it's a good thing."

"It is... well mostly. But another girl would be loved just the same amount."

"Of course it would. Probably even more by its big sister than if it is a boy."

"We'll love them both no matter what." Iggy grinned and kissed me. As he sat back down Doctor Lodani walked in.

"Sorry for keeping you waiting." She apologised with a smile. She started applying the cold gel to my stomach. She turned on the monitor and started moving the sensor thing around my stomach. I watched the screen, barely able wait for the baby to appear on it.

"And there's your baby." Dr Lodani finally said. Iggy leaned in closer and I felt his hand tighten around mine. I squeezed it back. My eyes were spilling over with tears. I looked up at Iggy tearing my gaze away from the screen for a second. He seemed kind of entranced by the screen and his eyes looked slightly watery like he was holding back tears. It was so sweet. We had our ups and downs but I did love him.

"Can we find out the sex?" I asked quietly through my tears. Dr Lodani nodded and started moving the thing around again.

"It's a boy." She announced to us.

"A boy." Iggy repeated almost faintly but I could hear the pride in his voice. It felt like my throat had closed over so I couldn't say anything. All I could do was cry with joy. I looked at the screen and saw my son. He was perfect. I just wanted to hold him in my arms. But I had to wait until October. It was over four months away but felt like an eternity. Iggy rested his chin on top of my head and put his arms around my shoulders. We watched our son together in complete happiness.

*~*~*~*~*~*

An hour later we were walking through the hospital to where the others were visiting Ally and Typa. I hadn't been able to stop crying since the ultrasound, possibly due to the fact I was holding a picture from of my baby and looked at it every few seconds. Iggy was wearing this big stupid looking grin and I really didn't blame him. We were walking hand in hand. I was practically dancing down the hallway.

Iggy held the door to Ally's room for me. He was being unusually chivalrous. I smiled at him as I walked inside with him following. I smiled even wider as the baby gave me a few kicks; I rested my hand on my stomach.

"_He's_ kicking." I said turning around to face Iggy who grinned.

"That's my _boy_. He's going to be a football player someday." Everyone's eyes widened as they realise what we were talking about. There were gasps.

"A boy... so I'm getting a brother." Lily said slowly being the first to recover. Iggy scooped her up and twirled her round.

"Yes princess, you're getting a little brother." Lily scowled.

"Daddy, can't you change it? Take him back and get a sister instead."

"It's a little bit late for that." Iggy said with a slight smile. I could tell he found this hilarious. "I could change it but then you wouldn't get your present."

"Present? What present?"

"Didn't you know that every little girl who has a baby brother gets a new doll?"

"Really?"

"Yeah, but I guess you don't want a new doll, so I'll just take your brother back."

"Well, I guess a brother wouldn't be that bad. I can cope."

"Good girl."

"God help us." Fang groaned. "A miniature Iggy."

"Isn't it great?" Iggy sighed distantly. "I already have his whole life planned out. You see he's going to be the star of the high-school football team AND the baseball team. But he'll be more serious about his football; baseball is just something he'll play during summer to keep up his fitness. He'll date a cheerleader- the head cheerleader to be exact." I shook my head laughing. It was good to for Iggy to be this enthusiastic about our son but this life plan was very specific.

"Honey, what if he wants to be artistic or academic?" I asked with a grin. Iggy looked scandalised.

"Then I will disown him."

"You'll do nothing of the sort. Or I will divorce you." Iggy shut up immediately. Then his phone started ringing. Iggy answered it without looking at who was calling.

"Hello, Iggy Ride speaking... Oh shut up... I didn't look at the caller ID... I don't know, someone important... no, you're not important...well, screw you too..." obviously Iggy was having a random argument with one of his friends so I turned my attention away from him and pulled Lily onto my lap. I started showing her the ultra-sound picture.

"See darling, that's your little brother." I told her. She looked quizzical.

"But mama, he's just a grey blob. He looks nothing like a baby." She said sounding confused.

"No, no, look there's his head and his arm." I explained pointing to each body part, trying to make a baby out of 'a grey blob'. Well, he was my grey blob and that's all that mattered. Iggy turned to me.

"Violet, how opposed are you to me going away this weekend?" he asked hopefully.

"Depends. Where are you going?

"Well, Dave's dad is letting him borrow the yacht and he's getting all the guys together and we're going to take it out. Like a boy's weekend."

"Shouldn't Dave be taking his wife out for a romantic cruise?"

"Nope, Emma is away for the weekend. Please Violet can I got please, please, please, please!"

"Yes, yes fine. You'd think you were a five year old asking if you could go to a birthday party." Iggy scowled at me and put the phone to his ear again.

"She said I could go... Awesome... see you tomorrow" he hung up smile contently, humming 'I'm on a boat' to himself.

"Hey Fang, you owe me money." Ally said turning to Fang.

"Damn, why can't I pick this gender thing?" Fang muttered.

"You were betting on my baby?" I asked with raised eyebrows. "May I ask why you decided on your choices?"

"I have my reasons." Ally said. I cocked my side thinking hard and then it hit me.

"No way." I said disbelievingly. "You can't hear his thoughts. Can you?"

"No." She was such a liar.

"What's he thinking?" Ally pretended she didn't hear me. I narrowed my eyes. "Fine then. Come on Iggy." I said standing up balancing Lily on my hip.

"Where are we going?" He asked looking up at me.

"Home. Lily's probably tired and hungry. She needs lunch and a nap. While she's napping I'm sure we can find ways to entertain ourselves."

"How will we entertain ourselves?"

"I'm sure you know." I answered giving him a flirtatious look. Iggy jumped up immediately.

"Bye guys, we're going home. I probably won't see you til I get back. Have fun." He prattled off quickly before darting from the room, grabbing me by the hand and pulling me along.


	7. Invasion

**Chapter Seven- Invasion**

I was sitting in a lounger on the flock's deck watching the others fly around. Iggy was carrying Lily who had complained about not being able to fly around on her own. Ally and Jacob were teaching Shadow to fly properly. I wasn't flying with everyone because I was too tired. I had just entered my eighth month of pregnancy and I was having trouble sleeping. My backed ached, the baby was kicking my ribs frequently and I was going to the bathroom about fifty times a night.

Iggy landed beside me with a disgruntled Lily in his arms. He sat on the edge of my lounger.

"Hey honey, how are you?" he asked.

"Tired and sore." I complained. Iggy rubbed my leg.

"Okay, we'll go home in a minute. How about one more quick fly Lils?"

"Daddy, why can't I fly on my own?" She whined.

"Sorry baby you're too little." He told her comfortingly.

"No, I'm not!" she said determinedly jumping out of his arms and unfolding her wings. She started flying up higher. I screamed loudly causing the others to look around.

"Iggy! Go!" I shrieked. Iggy was up in the air quickly and grabbed Lily before she could fall. He landed beside me again. I reached out for Lily, tears streaming down my cheeks, and hugged her tightly.

"Don't scare mama like that." I reprimanded her.

"But mama, I was fine." she protested. "I could have kept going for ages."

"Lily you wouldn't have been able to go for much longer. Please don't do it again. I promise I'll teach you to fly when you're older." Iggy said sitting beside us.

"Fine." Lily sighed rolling her eyes. I was annoyed at her but she did look so cute. "You promise?"

"Yes, I promise." The baby aimed a particularly hard kick at my ribs that made me wince.

"Are you okay?" Iggy said.

"Yeah, the baby just kicked, really hard." I exhaled heavily. "Hopefully he'll settle down soon."

"I'm sure he will. Come on, I think we need to go home." Iggy suggested to my relief. We said a quick goodbye to the others and headed off down the path home.

"I just want to go to bed." I yawned. We were walking up the porch steps and into the house. I put Lily down in the lounge and turned around finding Iggy making a pile of pillows for me to lean on.

"Thank you." I said sitting down and relaxing into the pillows.

"Do you need anything?" Iggy asked kissing my forehead.

"Can you start dinner, I'm hungry and I want to get an early night."

"Okay darling, I'll get right on it. Just rest." Iggy left the room. I turned on the TV as Ally, Jacob, Shadow and Typa came in. Lily pranced up to me.

"Mama, come play with Me." she told me, grabbing my hand and trying to drag me onto the ground.

"Lily, I'm too tired."

"But maaama!"

"Lily no! I'm going to bed straight after dinner. I'm honestly exhausted!"

"You're always tired! You never play with me anymore!" Iggy poked his head into the lounge.

"Lily, what are you doing?" He asked.

"Mama won't play with me. She never does. She says she's tired."

"Lily, she's tired because of the baby."

"Everything is because of the baby." Lily grumbled crossing her arms.

"Come and help me make dinner."

"No! I don't want to! I want to play with mama!"

"Well, you can't so tough."

"Daddy!"

"One more argument and you're going to your room."

"I want mama to play with me!" Iggy picked Lily up. She started crying as he took her out of the room. I heard them arguing. I just groaned and shut my eyes. I really couldn't deal with Lily becoming bratty now. This wasn't like her at all. She was due to hit the so-called 'terrible twos' in a few weeks, but I had no idea why she was acting this way. After about two minutes the yelling turned to quieter talking and a little while after that Iggy and Lily came back into the lounge.

"Now, what were you going to say?" Iggy asked her. Lily skipped over to me.

"I'm sorry mama." She said hugging me. "You're tired. Go to sleep. Goodnight." She threw a blanket over me and kissed me on the forehead before running out of the room.

"Do you know what that was about?" I asked Iggy kicking the blanket off. I appreciated her gesture but it was much too hot for a blanket.

"She's getting jealous." Iggy said sitting down by my feet.

"Of the baby?" Iggy nodded

"She said that she is afraid of the baby taking her place."

"Oh, I feel bad now. But I'm just so tired."

"Violet, I know. She's fine. Stop worrying about everything. Just relax. I'm going to finish dinner." We ate about half an hour later. It was a bit earlier than usual for us but I just wanted to sleep. Luckily by the time I was climbing into bed, the baby had settled down and wasn't kicking my ribs.

*~*~*~*~*

"Good morning darling." I greeted Iggy the next morning. He was in the kitchen cooking up a massive breakfast. I stood on tiptoes to kiss his cheek.

"Hey, isn't it a bit early for you to be up."

"I slept well,"

"That's good. When is your next doctor's appointment?" I walked over to the calendar.

"Um, a week from today. Lily's got one too right before mine." The phone started ringing. I picked it up off the counter top. "Hello?" I said into the receiver.

"Vi, have you seen the paper this morning?" Fang asked worriedly.

"No,"

"You need to."

"Okay. I'll send Iggy out to get it." I covered the receiver with my hand. "Iggy can you go get the paper?"

"Sure." Iggy said going out the backdoor.

"Just call me later." Fang said as he hung up. It was a confusing phone call. What was in the paper that was so important for me to see? The backdoor opened and Iggy came in his eyes transfixed on the paper. He walked over to me and stood beside. Only then did I realise what was so important.

_Bird toddler takes her first fly, _was the headline with a large full colour picture of Lily flying with Iggy about to grab her. Further down the page was a picture of me looking up at the sky with a terrified expression on my face, it was captioned, _Violet Ride expecting baby number two. _

"No! This can't be happening again." I moaned. Then the phone started ringing, I answered it timidly.

"Hello?"

"Hi, is that Violet Ride?" the voice was unfamiliar.

"Yes." I said slowly.

"Hello Violet, I represent People Magazine, I was wondering if we could get an interview..." I shrieked and threw the phone away. It hit the wall with a clatter. I felt light-headed and started to sway on the spot.

"Whoa! Violet!" Iggy said grabbing onto me to stop me from collapsing. Ally and Jacob ran into the room.

"We heard screaming and something smashing." Ally asked. Then she spotted the phone on the floor, probably broken. "What's going on?" Wordlessly Iggy handed the paper to them. I got another glimpse of the photo which made tears well in my eyes. Iggy hugged me.

"It's okay. I'll find out who's doing this. I'll sort it out." he said stroking my hair.

"But they're taking photos of my baby!"I sobbed, nearly hysterically "She's getting shown around like a freak show!"

"It will be alright. Shh shh shh."

"Mama! Daddy!" Lily called from her room. She was awake.

"Be there in a minute baby!" Iggy replied. He half-carried me into the dining room and guided me down into a chair.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"No." I whimpered. "They're invading our privacy."

"What are we going to tell her?"

"Nothing. She doesn't need to know." I wiped my eyes as I said this. "Go and get her. Start breakfast. Pretend everything is normal." Iggy kissed the top of my head. He went to grab Lily and brought her out a minute later.

"Daddy how many sleeps is it to my birthday?" She asked him. Iggy paused for a moment before answering. He looked like his mind was miles away.

"Um, I think its fourteen sleeps." Lily spotted me and beamed.

"Morning mama!" she said brightly. I tried my best to smile back at her.

"Hi baby." I greeted her holding my arms out for her. Iggy handed her over and went into the kitchen. "Did you have a good sleep?" Yup, that sounded normal.

"I did. I dreamed I went swimming in ice cream. It was fun and yummy at the same time."

"That sounds nice." I put her in her highchair as I wanted to go and get dressed and have a shower. Shadow walked into the dining room as I was leaving it. As I was walking to our bedroom, I heard hushed, frantic voices from behind Ally and Jacob's closed bedroom door. As I had never really lost my love for eavesdropping I stopped to listen.

"Stop pacing Al, it will be okay." Jake said reassuringly. I wondered what she was worrying about as it was my daughter who was the new poster girl for mutants.

"No, it's not Jake. Don't pretend that it's okay because we both know that that's bullshit." Ally whispered. She sounded pissed. "Jake what if he comes back? What then?" Ally shivered. Okay, what the hell was going on here?

"He will never touch you Al, I'll kill him before he does." Jake growled. I leaned in closer to hear more but I forgot about my massive stomach and I nudged the door open slightly. I quickly and quietly shut it again. I hurried down the stairs as fast as possible.

"Iggy, I've just heard something really weird." I said as I went into the kitchen. I stood beside Iggy and he wrapped his arms around me.

"What? Did you hear something outside?" I shook my head.

"No, but maybe worse. I was walking down the hallway and I overheard Ally and Jacob talking, well I might have eavesdropped a little. Ally was worrying about someone coming after them and then Jacob said that he would kill the person before they touched Ally." Ally and Jacob walked in as I was saying that. Time for a quick cover up. I grabbed Iggy's hand and put it on my stomach. "And that is where he is kicking."

"Yeah, I can feel it. That's my boy!" Iggy said excitedly quickly catching on.

"What are you guys talking about?" Ally said suspiciously.

"The baby kicked." I said quickly.

"Then why are alarm bells ringing like crazy in your head?" Iggy and I shrugged.

"Um... I think I've got some laundry to do." I said darting out of the room. I went into the garage and started sorting through clothes. After ten minutes Iggy came in with a full plate of food for me, which he put on top of the ironing board.

"I can't believe you left me there to deal with that." he said crossing his arms.

"With what?" I asked picking up a piece of toast and biting it.

"With the repercussions of your eavesdropping. They are onto us. They so know it was you. They were giving me 'I know what did' vibes and I still bring you breakfast after the trauma I went through."

"And I still have sex with you even after the trauma I'm going through." I gestured to my stomach. Iggy sat on top of the washing machine and put his head in his hands.

"Vi, I am going to figure this out. I will find whoever is taking these pictures and I will shove their camera up their ass."

"Iggy, I'm just upset, this is the second time it's happened. And last time... we had to leave home for three months, until everything died down. I just don't want that to happen again. Lily's older now; she might understand what is happening. It's a lot easier to take a three-month old across the country without disrupting their life but it's harder with an almost-two year old." Iggy jumped off the washing machine and wrapped his arms around my waist.

"I promise to protect you two- I mean three." He pushed his lips against mine. I put my arms around his neck and kissed him back, sighing. After five minutes we broke apart upon hearing,

"Mama! Daddy! Where are you?" Lily called. She appeared at the doorway to the garage. She ran over to us and reached for me to pick her up, which I did.

"Come on let's get you dressed." I said as the three of us left the garage. As we walked through the dining room, Ally and Jacob were in intense conversation which stopped as soon as we walked in. giving them a strange and suspicious look I carried on and went up the stairs. Iggy was following me.

"Something seriously weird is going on between those two." Iggy commented.

"Now do you see my point, anyway, we can't worry about that at the moment we have our own problems to deal with."

"What problems Mama?" Lily asked.

"Nothing you need to worry about cupcake." I said kissing her forehead. We walked into her room. I passed her to Iggy and started looking for clothes. When I found some I chucked them to Iggy who changed Lily.

"Daddy can we go swimming today?" Lily asked innocently. Iggy looked at me and I shook my head. I didn't want her outside when it was possible for more paparazzi pictures to be taken.

"Sorry princess, not today. How about we three watch a movie together in Mama and Daddy's room." Lily smiled and nodded. That sounded like a good idea.

"Okay, I like that idea. But I need to get dressed and have a shower, so can you play with daddy for fifteen minutes." I suggested.

"Yes Mama. Daddy can we go pick a movie? And make popcorn?"

"We can." They both left the room and I went to have a shower. Quarter of an hour later Lily and Iggy came into the room, where I was lying on the bed ready for the movie. Iggy had a big bowl of popcorn and the movie in one hand and carrying Lily with the other arm. He put Lily on the bed. She cuddled up to me. Iggy set the DVD up and lay down next to us. He put one arm around me and pressed play on the remote.

Lily had chosen her favourite movie ever _Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. _I didn't watch the screen instead looking down at my beautiful daughter. How she gave the evil queen a scornful look, how she giggled at the cute dwarfs and finally how she looked happily as Snow White and Prince Charming rode off together. She was growing up, and the thing she said to me after the credits had rolled was even more confirmation of this.

"Mama, I need to go potty." I gave her a funny look; she had never told us that she needed to go. It was usually after, when she wanted her nappy changed.

"Then go." I said.

"No mama, I need to go to _the _potty. Like a big girl. On the potty." She said to me as if I didn't understand. We did have a potty and had mentioned it to her before but she had never shown any interest in using it before. Iggy was quicker at recovering from her announcement than I was.

"Well, I guess we need to find the potty. Is it in the downstairs bathroom?" He asked me.

"Uh... yeah it is." I said after a pause.

"Let's go then." Iggy jumped up from the bed swinging Lily into his arms. "Coming Vi?" like I was going to miss this big moment in my little girls life. I got up off the bed with more enthusiasm.

"Of course I'm coming." We started walking out of the room, I saw Iggy sneakily grab a parenting book of the shelf on the way out. The three of us went into the downstairs bathroom. I grabbed the potty out of the cupboard and put it on the ground. Iggy started flicking though the book.

"Iggy, I think she really needs to go now." I told Iggy and scooped Lily, who was fidgeting, out of his arms. "You haven't got time to consult the book." I sat on the ground awkwardly. I took off Lily's nappy and sat her on the potty.

"Mama it feels funny." She whined.

"Its okay honey, just go."

"I don't know if I can." There were tears welling in her eyes.

"Hey, hey it's okay. Just try and if you can't we can wait and try again. You're quite little to be using a potty."

"But if I don't I'll be a baby."

"Oh sweetheart, no you won't. No one will think that." I ran my fingers through her hair. "There's no pressure on you at all." Lily nodded and went quiet concentrating hard. We waited awhile until we heard a little tinkling noise. Lily broke out into a huge smile.

"I did it!" She exclaimed when she finished.

"You're a very clever girl." I said hugging her and kissing the top of her head. "Well done darling." Iggy came over to sit next us.

"I'm very proud of you kiddo." He said ruffling her hair. "I'll clean up here." Iggy offered and I took Lily upstairs. I lay her down on the changing table and started to put a new nappy on her.

"But mama! I want to have big girl pants like you do."

"How about you wear a nappy and if you can go to the potty again we'll think about the big girl pants." Lily sighed and nodded.

"I guess so." I finished changing her and lifted her off the changing table. I took her down stairs.

"Hey Lils! I've got a surprise for you!" Iggy called from the kitchen. We went into the kitchen and found Iggy getting out measuring cups, flour and plastic mixing bowls. "I thought since you were such a smart girl today using the potty, we need to celebrate. Do you want to make cupcakes?" Lily nodded enthusiastically and I passed her over to Iggy.

"I'll leave you to it. Ig, just watch to see if she gets fidgety. Lily, if you need to go potty remember to tell daddy okay?"

"Yes mama." I left the room and went upstairs into our room. I sat down on the bed and started channel surfing for lack of anything better to do. When I found that there was nothing good on, I turned it off. The baby gave me a few kicks. I heard a hushed voice coming from the next room. I stood up on the bed and pushed my ear against the wall to hear more.

"Are you sure... he doesn't know anything... at all... I appreciate you doing this for us Jack, you're like family now." Ally said to someone. I started losing my balance and I fell off the bed, shrieking as I did. As I fell I smacked my head on the edge of the bedside table.

"Ow!" I moaned as I hit the floor rubbing the back of my head. I heard Ally call out to me.

"Vi, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I just fell of the bed."

"What were you doing on the bed?"

"I was um... dusting."

"On the bed?!"

"Yeah, I had to get a picture hanging above the bed."

"I didn't think you had a picture hanging above the bed." Iggy ran in at that moment. He took one look at me lying on the ground holding on to the back of my head.

"Bloody hell Vi, what did you do?" He asked coming to kneel down beside me. He pulled me into a sitting position. "Did you hit your head? Let me take a look." Iggy examined the back of my head. "You've got a bit of a lump growing on here. I think we need to ice It." he picked me up.

"I can walk." I protested as he carried me down the hall. He smiled and ignored me. We went into the kitchen where Lily was sitting on the bench stirring cupcake batter. Iggy pulled out on the breakfast bar stools and put me on it. He pulled an ice pack out of the freezer and pushed it to the back of my head.

"Hold that there. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. God you fuss over me a lot." Iggy wrapped his arms around me and rested his chin on the top of my head.

"I worry about you. You stress over everything. Just sit still for awhile." So I sat there holding the ice pack to my head while I watched Iggy and Lily make their cupcakes.

"Can I take this off my head now please?" I asked as Iggy put the cupcakes in the oven. He came over and pushed my hair aside to take a look at where I had banged at it.

"I think you should be okay, but if it starts to hurt again, tell me."

"I will." I said giving him a quick kiss on the lips.

"Well, I'm going to get lunch started. I want you to go and relax somehow and stay of your feet for awhile."

"I told you, I'm fine."

"Yes, but you are stressing. I don't like it when you stress." He started pulling me in the direction of the lounge and tried to settle me on the couch.

"Okay, okay. I'll relax." He handed me the remote and went back into the kitchen. Lily came back into the lounge and climbed up onto my lap. She yawned and snuggled up to me.

"Nap time soon Darling?" I asked running my fingers through her hair. She shook her head, stubborn as ever.

"Not tired." She mumbled sleepily. I was going to have to keep her awake until at least after lunch. I didn't like putting her down for a nap with an empty stomach. I talked to her, not letting her doze off. Iggy made a quick lunch and as soon as Lily had finished eating I took her upstairs and put her into her crib.

"Sweet dreams baby." I whispered, leaning over her and kissing her forehead.

"Night Mama." I pulled the blankets up over her, gave her 'Teddy' and 'Mr Snuffles' and shut the curtains. I shut the door as I left the room. I went downstairs into the lounge where Iggy was writing. I had set him the task a few days ago of writing a list of names that he wanted the baby to have.

"Here! I'm done." He said giving me the list. I sat on the couch and looked at it. It read;

_Iggy__ Jnr_

_Ignace_

_Ignacio_

_Ignado_

_Ignasi_

_Ignatios_

_Ignatius_

_Ignazio_

_Igor_

_Borat_

_Dynamite_

_Da Bomb_

_Quasimodo_

_Snakesonaplane_

_Snape_

I picked a pen up and started crossing off names. I put a line through each one except for Iggy Jnr. I crossed off the Jnr bit and wrote _middle name _next to the Iggy bit.

"Iggy," I sighed. "All of these names either have 'Ig' in them, are off movies or you made them up."

"No!" He protested. "Okay maybe, but come on at least consider them."

"I don't plan to."

"It's better than some of your ideas, I mean seriously Icarus. That name sucks ass." I paused for a moment then had an idea.

"How about Jack, Iggy don't you like the name Jack, isn't Jack a nice name, we should call our son Jack."

"What?" Iggy said "No, Jack doesn't sound right. What happened to Lucas? You were going on the other day how much you liked Lucas. And I like that name because I could say 'Luke, I am you father.'"

"I think Jack sounds like the name off an eavesdropper." Ally butted in. I narrowed my eyes at her.

"Oh really, because I think it sounds like someone who keeps secrets." I snapped letting my hormones get the better of me. We were glaring at each other spitefully. It was a full on bitch fight.

"Well maybe it's the name of someone who sneaks around poking their nose in other people's business or it could be the name of an old family friend who is just trying to help." I stood up and stormed out of the room, tears forming in the edges of my eyes. I went into mine and Iggy's room slamming the door behind me. I flopped onto the bed and started sobbing. After awhile there was a knock on the door.

"Violet, sweetheart are you okay?" Iggy asked

"I'm fine, I just need some space." I replied sniffing.

"Okay, call me if you need anything." I heard his footsteps disappearing down the hall. Ally was right; I shouldn't have been poking my nose in other people's business. I was a bad friend and a horrible person. Maybe this whole paparazzi thing was Karma coming for me. What goes around comes around.

There was a knock on the door. And it didn't sound like Iggy's knock.

"Go away." I moaned turning to face the window. But the door opened regardless. That made me certain of who it was. Ally sat on the bed beside me and I still didn't look at her, feeling guilty. She opened a large tub of ice cream and handed me a spoon. We ate the ice cream, not saying anything, just staring out the window. Finally, when we finished the tub, Ally put it down on the floor and we turned to look at each other.

"I'm sorry." We both blurted out in unison. We held eye contact for a minute and then started laughing.

"I am really sorry." Ally laughed.

"Me too, I shouldn't have been nosy. I'm a terrible friend." I sighed guiltily, not laughing anymore.

"No you shouldn't have eavesdropped but you aren't a terrible friend. You're the best friend I could ever have." Ally hugged me tightly and I hugged her back just as tight. Ally pulled back and a thought occurred to me.

"What are you sorry about?" I asked curiously. I had been the stupid one.

"A few things actually. One is acting immaturely, another is blowing up your wall socket which don't worry I'll pay for it plus saying those things I said and thirdly for letting this fight happen in the first place." Ally ticked the things off on her fingers. She didn't need to worry about the light switch. If I knew my husband he would have the time of his life playing with all the wires, trying to fix it.

"I won't eavesdrop anymore." I promised. "At least not on you."

"You know, when you eavesdrop you normally don't hear the whole thing so you suspect the worst. Jack's an old friend of ours from a long time ago and we were just checking in with him." Ally explaind

"Oh…well you don't have to answer this but what about when I heard you and Jake talking and Jake said 'he'd' never let him touch you, he'd kill him first. Whose 'he'?" I asked.

"You misheard, Jake didn't say that. As I said, you never hear the accurate story when you eavesdrop." I didn't believe her in the slightest and the alarm in my head was going off, but since the fight I dropped it

"Remember everyone has secrets, don't worry, its fine." Ally smiled. I spotted the empty ice cream carton on the floor and got a craving for more.

"Yeah, hey, do you know what I feel like?" I asked her.

"Ice cream?"

"Exactly."


	8. Growing up

**Chapter Eight- Growing up**

After a long night of tossing and turning, fretting about what was happening to us, the first rays of sunshine crept through the blinds. I got out of bed carefully, trying not to wake Iggy, who was peacefully snoring away to himself. I kissed him on the forehead and went to get dressed silently. I snuck out of the room shutting the door behind me. I moved down the hall quietly trying not to wake the sleeping household.

I went out to the garage, taking Iggy's car keys off the bench on my way out. I would need the extra power his car had over mine for what I was going to do. I got into the driver's seat and adjusted the seat so that I could actually reach the peddles. I backed out of the garage and spent an hour driving around the property looking for any signs that the paparazzi had been around. I found absolutely nothing. Eventually I got hungry and frustrated and gave up.

I parked Iggy's car back in the garage next to mine. Opening the back door quietly, I went into the kitchen to make myself breakfast but stopped when I heard voices from the kitchen.

"I don't know what to tell her." Iggy sighed. "If I show her these she's going to freak."

"She'll find out anyway." Ally advised.

"I don't want to put her under anymore stress. It can't be good for her and the baby." I stepped into the dining room making everyone look up.

"What do you need to show me?" I asked Iggy who reluctantly handed the paper over to me. I took one look at it and gasped. There were new photos of us but these ones were even worse than last one. They were taken inside the house. There was one of Iggy walking around in nothing but boxer shorts, one of me in pyjamas with my hair in a mess, Iggy and I making out in the laundry, Iggy and Lily baking and finally of Iggy, Lily and I watching the movie in our room.

It was horrible. I didn't know whether to throw the paper across the room or rip it to shreds. As it was I stayed frozen to the spot until I could force myself to utter a single sentence.

"Shut all the curtains." Iggy and Jacob sprinted off to do what I had asked. I sunk down into a chair, trying not to cry.

"Are you okay?" Ally asked giving me a sympathetic look.

"I don't know. I honestly don't know." I replied tearfully looking up at her. She came around to the side of the table I was sitting and hugged me. It was what I needed at a time like this. A friend to help me keep my sanity. Iggy and Jacob came back into the room and we broke apart. I stood up.

"I should go and check if Lily's up. She probably needs to go potty." I said leaving the room to get out of Iggy's worried gaze. I hurried up the stairs and into Lily's room. I put on a smile, no need for her to get worried or upset. She was sitting up in bed.

"Morning darling." She looked a little bit ashamed of herself.

"Mummy I went potty in my nappy when I was asleep. I didn't mean to." She insisted looking upset. I picked her up and cuddled her.

"Hey, it's okay. You don't need to use the potty at night. That's why I put a nappy on you at bedtime. Do you need to go now?" she thought for a moment and then nodded. I changed her into clothes and underwear quickly, throwing her dirty nappy in the bin and took her downstairs. I put the potty in the middle of the floor in the downstairs bathroom and she stood there looking at it.

"Mummy, can you pull my undies down?" she asked looking at me.

"No darling, I know you can do it yourself. If you do then you'll get two lollies." I told her with a smile.

"Will you still come with me when I need to go?" She asked.

"Of course I will." She seemed appeased by that and pulled up her dress, pulled down her underwear and sat on the potty. I perched on the edge of the bathtub while I waited for her to go.

"Mummy, I went." She said proudly.

"Good girl." I wiped her, fixed her clothes and made her wash her hands. "Daddy's probably in the dining room. Go tell him to give you two lollies because mummy said so. Okay? And tell him to get you and mummy breakfast." She nodded and ran off. I cleaned up and washed my own hands. When I returned to the dining room the paper had been taken away and the room was lit by the light rather than sunlight from the window. The house felt dark and foreboding now. The place that was supposed to be our privacy, where we could be safe had been exposed to the world and became a public spectacle. It was heartbreaking.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Later that morning Ally and I were sitting in the lounge. Typa was in Ally's lap on the lounge and I had managed to get onto the floor, after a struggle, and was sorting though a box of Lily's baby clothes that were once looking seeing if any were going to be acceptable for a baby boy. It was the perfect distraction from everything that was going on though I wasn't having all that much luck. Most of Lily's clothes were pink and girly. Iggy and Jacob were playing video games in the other lounge and Lily and Shadow were playing upstairs in her room.

"There's so much pink." I said with a sigh. "I mustn't have thought about the potential of having a son later on, I was so wrapped up in my little girl." Who wasn't all that little anymore.

"You could always dress him in the pink. Everyone would know Iggy is his father." Ally suggested. We both laughed and Typa smiled picking up that there was a joke. She was a clever baby.

"I guess I could always put them away in case I have another girl at some point." I mused thoughtfully beginning to pack all the clothes; Ally gave me a surprised look.

"You're thinking about have more kids after this?"

"Uh yeah maybe, just the one though. I don't know yet but I think I would like three kids. But definitely a bigger gap between the third one and the second one that there is between Lily and the second one. I'm not really thinking about it right now."

"I wouldn't have expected that. I'm pretty happy with two though."

"I can tell." I observed with a smile. The subject of kids made me think of something I wanted to ask Ally. "Hey Ally, I was wondering if-" I was interrupted by Lily crying upstairs. Getting up as fast as I could because I had suspected what had happened. It took me about half a minute despite my hurry. Ally and I rushed up the stairs into Lily's room. Shadow was slowly backing out of the room with a terrified expression on his face. Lily was standing in a wet patch on the ground, crying. There were wet stains on her dress too.

"Mummy I had accident." She sobbed as I went over to her and picked her up.

"Oh darling, it's okay." I soothed her, laying her down on the changing table. "It's very normal. You're only learning. It happens to everyone."

"I knew I had to go and I was going to find you soon but then I started having sooo much fun that I forgot about. And the suddenly I really, really, really needed to go pee pee and I got reminded and I thought I could hold it until I got downstairs and I tried to stand up to go find you but I couldn't hold it even for just long enough to get away from Shadow and I just went pee pee even though I wasn't on the potty and I really didn't mean to because I was trying to hold in but it all came out and it got all over my dress and the carpet and my undies then Shadow started running away and I felt like a baby and then I started crying and then you came." She rambled.

"I know baby. It's okay. We can clean it up and wash your clothes." I looked behind me quickly and saw that Ally, Shadow and Typa had vanished. So, I started taking the wet clothes off her.

"I don't have wear nappies again, do I?"

"No we can just get you clean undies." I went over to her draw to get some and some fresh clothes and started redressing her. Iggy came into the room with carpet cleaner in hand.

"Hey," He came up behind me and kissed me on the cheek and ran his fingers through Lily's hair. "Do you want me to clean up?" He asked.

"Yes, please. It would take me forever to just get on the floor." He got to work. "See Lily, daddy's cleaning it up, soon it will be all gone and mummy will wash your clothes and everything will be as good as new." I picked her up and cuddled her.

"Mummy, will Shadow think I'm a baby?"

"No darling. Why would he think that?"

"Cause I had an accident."

"Oh sweetheart. Don't worry. Everyone goes through it. You're so much like your daddy sometimes."

"Does he have accidents too?" That made me giggle and Iggy looked up from his cleaning and glared at me.

"No, no, not anymore, though he probably did when he was learning. What I mean is that you both feel very guilty about things that are out of your control."

*~*~*~*~*~*

The next day even more pictures appeared in the paper. I tried not to let it get to me but the anxiety was eating away at me. How were they getting these? And who was taking them? Our curtains remained shut. Iggy and I started on another project, that afternoon, to keep ourselves distracted.

"Why do I have to talk to her? You're better at this sort of thing." Iggy whined to me.

"I'm handling potty training, so you can do this. It's only fair. Beside you're the one who wants to get her out of it because you're too cheap to buy another one." I told him sternly. Iggy scowled and slouched into the lounge where Lily was playing with her dolls on the ground by herself. Everyone else was sitting on the couches. Iggy sat on the couch and watched her for a minute.

"Hey Lils, come sit up here. I wanna talk to you about something." I watched from behind the doorway as Lily ran up to Iggy and crawled up onto his knee. "You're becoming such a big girl now that you can use the potty."

"I had a few accidents but Mummy said it was okay. Is it?"

"Of course it is. You're just learning. And anyway your mother is always right. I've learnt thatafter ten years. So anyway, I've thought of another thing you need to do to become a proper big girl."

"What's that daddy?"

"You need to move out of your cot into a big girl bed." I watched Lily's expression turn horror struck.

"No! I don't want to!" She protested loudly jumping off Iggy.

"Come on Lily. We need to use your cot. For the baby." This made Lily scowl harder. Iggy had made a bad move bringing the baby into this.

"He can't have it!"

"Come on Lily. Shadow sleeps in a bed." Lily's face lit up slightly as did Shadows.

"Can I sleep in his bed?"

"No! I mean, you'll have your own one."

"I don't want my own bed. I want my cot!" At this point I knew Iggy was fighting a losing battle, so I went upstairs to get the one thing that might convince Lily too move out of her cot. I walked into the lounge, holding it behind my back but so she could see it slightly without knowing what it was. Lily and Iggy were having a stare down almost.

"Hey, what's going on?" I asked as I hovered in the doorway. Lily pointed an accusing finger at Iggy.

"Daddy's wants me to move into a bed but I don't wanna move outta my cot."

"That's okay; you can wait to move out of it until you're ready." I started backing out of the room while Iggy looked at me shocked. Lily spotted that I was hiding something behind my back.

"What's behind your back mummy?" She asked trying to see it.

"Oh nothing, it's really only for big girls who sleep in beds." Lily looked slightly hurt.

"What is it?" I pulled out a pink fairy duvet that I knew Lily would love. Her eyes widened and she stood in front of me.

"I was going to give it you but you don't want to so I guess I'll have to keep for myself." Not that I planned to use it all.

"No mummy I want it. I'll sleep in a big a girl bed!" I put the duvet down and leaned down to pick her up which was a little bit of a struggle but I got there in the end.

"Good girl." I kissed the top of her head and sat down on the couch next to Iggy who looked annoyed at me. "I guess you'll have to put together that bed that's in the garage. I think you can handle that." I told him and he stormed off. Oh, he was such a child.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

By that night I wasn't quite sure that Iggy could handle putting the bed together. Lily's usual bedtime was at around seven and now it was eight-thirty and there was still no completed bed. She was leaning into my side, cuddled up to me just about asleep. Shadow was sitting on Ally's lap, looking very tired as well.

"Mummy, I'm tired." She mumbled.

"I guess you won't be sleeping in your bed tonight." I sighed.

"But then where will I sleep? Back in my cot?" She looked a little bit hopeful at this.

"Not a chance." There really was only one option to go with. Iggy would hate it but what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him. I turned to Ally who was sitting next to me. "Ally, would it be alright if Lily slept in Shadows bed?"

"Yeah, sure." Ally said with a small grin. "Unless you have a problem with that Shadow."

"No, of course I don't." He replied quickly

"Do you like that idea Lily?" I asked her and she nodded with a tired smile on her face. "Okay you sit here with Aunt Ally and I'll go get your pyjamas." I put Lily onto Ally's lap with Shadow and went upstairs into Lily's room. Iggy was sitting on the floor all the pieces of the bed around him. He was staring confusedly at the instructions.

"It's all in Spanish!" He exclaimed. "And what the hell is La Cama?" I walked over to him and turned the instructions over so he could read the English side. "Oh, this is easier." I laughed and went over to Lily's dresser and started getting the things together that Lily would need for bedtime.

"Have fun with that." I said as I left the room shutting the door behind me. I went down stairs and took Lily off Ally's lap where she was almost asleep. "Come on baby, just stay awake for a little while longer." I lay her down on the couch and put a nappy on her. I didn't think she was up to staying dry at night quite yet and Shadow wouldn't be very appreciative if she wet his bed. I put on her pyjamas and carried her upstairs as she seemed too tired to walk. Ally and Shadow were following.

I put Lily down on Shadow's bed while I went to get her new duvet and some extra pillows to put on the ground in case she fell out of bed. When I returned with all these things along with her soft toys, I got her to lie down in bed and pulled the blankets up over her. She looked slightly fearful.

"It's okay." I soothed her, stroking her hair. "You'll be fine." I gave her the soft toys and sat down on the bed next to her. Shadow got into the other side of the bed.

"Mummy can I have a story?" Lily asked quietly. This was out of character, she rarely ever spoke quietly. Something was up.

"Of course." I thought for a moment as to which story I could tell. "Oh, I've got the perfect one. Once upon a time there was a handsome prince and an average looking princess."

"Handsome?" Ally snorted sitting down on the bed.

"No mummy, I think the princess would have been the most beautiful in the land." Lily corrected.

"Excuse me. I'm telling the story so I get to decide the attractiveness of the characters." I said. "So, there was a prince and princess. But they weren't just any prince and princess, they could fly. However the prince had a curse but on him at a young age so he couldn't see a thing. Despite this the princess loved him with all her heart and the prince felt the same way about her. They were very happy together.

"One day they went flying together high up in the trees. The prince told his princess about how much he wished to see her. You see the prince got jealous easily and the day before that they had been out together and for some reason some guys started hitting on the princess. It angered the prince as they could see her and he couldn't. He didn't think he was worthy of the princess's love. It broke the princess's heart to see him so discouraged but it was nothing compared to the heartbreak she would soon feel.

"The princess managed to cheer the prince up a little bit but as they were finally beginning to enjoy themselves the prince heard a helicopter. As it came into view the princess saw who was in it. It was their mortal enemies, the devilish Omega and the Princess's evil identical twin. They also had a whole bunch of their evil robot minions. The Prince and the Princess prepared to fight their way out but there were too many robot minions for them to fight.

"They captured the Prince and took him away in their helicopter leaving a devastated Princess behind, passed out on the ground. When the Princess woke up she was surrounded by her family, her non-evil twin brother Prince Fang, Princess Max, Princess Nudge, Prince Gazzy and Princess Angel. The Princess was so heartbroken she could barely explain what had happened. But she managed to tell them and they came up with a plan, to find the Prince at whatever cost." All three of them were hanging off my every word so I carried on.

"So they searched everywhere they could think of but they had no luck. Every dead end made the Princess hurt even more. She had never felt this bad in her life. Finally luck came to her one day in the form of a stranger who never showed his face. He left a cryptic message for the Princess to decode. But she was clever and motivated to find her prince whom she missed dearly. It took her a day and she discovered the Prince was hidden in the underground lair of the evil overlord Mr Chu.

"In the dead of night, the Princess and her family snuck into the lair going down a long dark tunnel but finally at the end of the tunnel they were greeted by hundreds of Robot Minions. They all fought valiantly, but Prince Fang told his sister to go find the Prince. Although she was reluctant to leave her family to fight, she knew that the Prince would need her so she rushed off to find him. When she found him she was overjoyed. He was sleeping innocently..."

"Since when is Iggy innocent?" Ally asked with raised eyebrows.

"Good point. Well he was sleeping and the Princess woke him up. But then she got the shock of her life. The curse had been lifted and the Prince could see again. They ran to find the other but were interrupted by Omega and the evil twin. But from behind them out stepped the wickedest of bit- I mean, witches. It was her had lifted the curse on the prince but for her own selfish reasons. She wanted him for her army. She tried to use her magic to entice the Prince to join her side but the Prince's love for the Princess was much too strong to be swayed by magic.

"He turned her down and the Princess was so enraged that the wicked witch had tried to steal her man that she punched the witch in the face. The witch was actually very much a wimp so she was knocked out immediately. Then two fights broke out. One between Omega and the Prince and another between the Princes and her own evil twin. Needless to say the Prince and the Princess were both victorious and after sharing a brief kiss they returned to help their family who were struggling against the robot minions. But the Princess had a trick up her sleeve. She had developed a new a power. The power to control water. There was a large tank of water that the prince broke and let flow into the room, electrifying the robots but she kept all the Princes and Princesses enclosed in a bubble of air, so they were safe. They all escaped safely."

"Did they have a happily ever after?" Lily asked already knowing the answer.

"Yes baby, they did. They got married and had a beautiful little Princess of their own."

"I like that story. I think it's my new favourite story." She smiled. I leaned over to kiss her on the forehead.

"Goodnight baby." I started standing up

"You're leaving?" Her eyes filled with tears and she clutched onto my clothes, sitting up.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I sat back on the bed as Lily hugged onto my side.

"I d-d-don't want you to go m-m-mummy. I-I-I'll fall out." She sobbed.

"Oh darling. You're going to be fine. Don't cry. You won't fall out and even if you do I've put pillows down so you won't get hurt."

"Are they the f-f-fluffy ones?" she whimpered through her tears.

"Yes they are. I know you'll be fine. Do you think I'd do something if it would hurt you?" Lily shook her head.

"Can I come and see you in your bed if I fall out?"

"Of course. Do you want me to leave the hall light on?"

"Yes please."

"Okay, lie down." She did as I asked and I pulled the covers back over her, tucking her in tightly to make her feel secure. I wiped away the tears. "Goodnight sweetheart. I'll check on you before I go to bed. Sweet dreams, I love you."

"I love you too mummy." I kissed her on the forehead again and stood up. I waited by the door for Ally to say goodnight to Shadow. When she had I blew Lily a kiss and we left turning the light out and closing the door.

**Lily POV**

I watched as mummy blew me a kiss and went out the door. The room went completely dark which made me even more afraid. I never usually minded the dark but now I couldn't even see the edge of the bed so it would be really easy for me to fall of it. I couldn't shut my eyes or even think about falling asleep despite how tired I was. Even though I was happy to be with Shadow, I really wanted to be back in my cot. Why did have to be such a sucker for fairies? Stupid cot-stealing attention-hogging little brother.

I moved slightly and almost fell off the edge of the bed. I whimpered. I turned over so I was facing Shadow's back

"Shadow?" I whispered to him. I did not like being a baby in front of him but I was desperate. I didn't want to let mummy down.

"Yeah?" He whispered back.

"I-I-I'm scared." I whimpered again moving further away from the scary edge of the bed. Shadow turned over, so he was facing me now. He looked at my scared expression.

"What of?" He looked confused as he asked me this.

"Falling out of bed." one tear fell down my cheek. Now I really felt like a baby. Shadow pulled his hand out from underneath his blanket and wiped it way.

"It's okay, I would never let you fall out." I gave him a small smile. Shadow put his arm around me and that made me feel really safe. I was able to go to sleep with a smile on my face.

**Violet POV **

As I went to bed myself a couple of hours later a poked my head into Shadow's room like I had promised Lily I would. The sight I saw was just too cute for words. Lily and Shadow were cuddled up together both with delicate smiles on their faces. I shut the door with a smile on my own face and went down to my own bedroom and started getting ready for bed. I as I was getting under the covers, Iggy came in.

"I'm done." He said sounding relieved flopping down on his side of the bed. "It's completely secure. I've tested it myself."

"That's good. Now go get pyjamas on or something. You're not sleeping in your clothes. Your jeans aren't comfortable to cuddle up to." Iggy got up and went to get changed. He reappeared a few minutes later in more suitable sleeping attire. He turned out the lights and got into bed. I snuggled up to him and let him run his fingers through my hair.

"What are we going to do?" He sighed. "This can't keep going on." I knew he was talking about the paparazzi pictures.

"I don't even know how they're getting the pictures I've tried to find them, but there's just nothing. I don't want to bring him into a world like this." I whimpered, a few tears spilling over. I rested my hand on my stomach and felt Iggy's close over mine.

"We'll get this all sorted out before he's born. I promise."

"I d-d-don't want he and Lily to be p-p-public spectacles." I was fully sobbing now. Iggy let me cry into to his shoulder while he comforted me. I was having some sort of stress induced meltdown.

"I won't let that happen. I promised that I would protect you guys and I keep my promises. You know that."

"I know. You're g-g-good to me."

"Shh, shh, Violet. It's okay honey." Iggy reached over to his bedside table, got a few tissues and started wiping away the tears that were pouring down my face.

"S-s-sorry. You're probably tired and I just went and had a complete breakdown on you."

"Holding you while you cry is part of my job description. Not that this is a job to me. You're probably getting worked up because you're so tired. How have you been sleeping?"

"Not very well." I admitted.

"Is there anything you need me to do to help you fall asleep?"

"No, just be here."

"I can do that." Iggy wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close to him. I buried my face in his chest and finally got a good night's sleep.

*~*~*~*~*~*

The next morning Iggy and I went down to breakfast hand in hand. Ally and Jacob were down there already.

"What's the paper like?" I asked timidly.

"They didn't manage to get a photo of you guys but they've done a profile of the house and released some information about you guys from an 'insider'." Ally said putting the paper in front of us. I sat down in a chair to read it while Iggy stood behind me, holding on my shoulders.

"Who knows all this stuff? And more importantly who would tell the paper." Iggy asked angrily to no one in particular. They knew our birthdays, what we liked to do, all kinds of information. Lily skipped into the room dragging Shadow along behind her. Iggy tossed the paper into the corner of the room. We were still keeping in with keeping Lily completely in the dark to protect her.

"Hey baby, how was your first night in a bed?" I asked.

"Bed?" Iggy asked looking at me like I was insane. "I thought she slept in her cot in the baby's room. That's what you told me!"

"Nope! I slept in Shadow's room!" Lily's said excitedly. Iggy's expression turned sour. He was extremely overprotective of her. This would not end well.

"What?! But he... and she's only... why did you..." he stammered to me.

"They're toddlers Iggy it's not like anything would have happened."

"When I was his age I was already stealing playboys from the white coats. I know how young boys' minds work."

"Iggy, not everyone had a mind that is as disgusting and perverted as yours." Iggy glared at me before turning to give Shadow an even worse glare but before he could open his mouth I dragged him out of the room by his ear.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow." He said. I let him go in the kitchen and folded my arms over my chest glaring at him.

"Iggy, you do not have the right to get angry simply because Lily slept in Shadows bed. She didn't have anywhere else to sleep!"

"She could have slept in our bed!"

"No, if she sleeps in there once, she'll think it's okay to sleep in their every night."

"Violet, she's my baby. I just want her to be safe."

"I know, she's my baby too, and you are a good dad, but Shadow isn't going to hurt her. He's two, not a creepy old man. Now, make me breakfast and do not bring up the subject again!"

*~*~*~*~*~*

Late that night when everyone else was sleeping, I was sitting on the window seat in mine and Iggy's room staring out the window. Iggy was asleep and the room was covered in darkness. I don't know what I was looking for but I looked out into the dark night. Since I was sitting in darkness there was not a lot of chance that a photograph could be taken of me. Iggy grunted in his sleep and I watched him for a moment. He rolled over and snuggled down deeper in the blankets. He was stupid sometimes and he often didn't think things through but I really did love him. He had been so sweet today except for that one incident. He went still again so I turned my attention back out the window.

The trees were swaying softly in the window but it was so dark that I could only see the outlines. Except for the slight breeze it was a still night, no movement all. Then something caught my eye. A blinking red light in one of the trees. I got up off the window seat, and hurried to wake Iggy.

"Iggy, wake up!" I said shaking him.

"What's wrong? Are you okay?" he sat upright abruptly.

"I can see a blinking red light in one of the trees. I don't know what it is but..." Iggy got out of bed and peeked out the curtain.

"Okay, let's go check it out." I put on a dressing gown and Iggy pulled a T-shirt on and we hurried downstairs and out the backdoor. Iggy sprinted ahead whereas I couldn't keep up with him. When I reached the bottom of the tree, Iggy was already climbing up it. He couldn't fly because the branches would get in his way. He was up there for a couple of minutes and when he came back down he was holding something that looked like a camera in his hand.

"What's that?" I asked looking at it. Iggy held it up.

"I think it's some sort of variation on a security camera. And it might me the cause of all our problems. I bet there are more of them. So they can get all these different variations of shots. The video gets sent to someone and they take screenshots. I'm going to pull it to pieces and see if I can trace it. Find out where the video is going."

"Now?"

"Yeah, the sooner the better. If I can solve it now, we can start figuring out how to stop it and who to beat up." I smiled at him. We'd finally made a breakthrough.

"Okay, I'm staying up with you."

"You, my love, need your sleep."

"I would just be lying in bed, waiting and unable to sleep. I'm staying up." I pouted and gave him bambi eyes.

"Fine, fine. I can't resist you when you look that cute" he sighed. We walked back to the house together. Iggy sat down at the dining room table and got to work. I went into the kitchen and started making Iggy a cup of coffee to keep him awake. When I brought it out to him he had our laptop beside him and had connected the camera, which had bits pulled off it and wires sticking out of it, to the computer and was typing furiously. I put the coffee beside him and sat next to him.

"Thanks." He said, pausing his typing and taking a sip.

"There's more in the pot if you want it. How's it going?" I asked.

"I'm trying to trace the signal. I'm no Nudge but I'm pretty sure I can do this. I can't build for shit, as we saw with the bed, but I'm good with wires and electronics stuff."

"Probably stems from the pyromania." Iggy chuckled at my joke.

"It feels kinda good to be doing stuff like this again as bad as that sounds. It's so much easier now though. I can see what I'm typing and I don't have to use that voice thingy. And I'm doing it to protect my family so it's a justified reason." He started typing away again and I watched him in silence. I rested my head on my hand and after him watching type and drink coffee for awhile, I fell asleep at the table.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

When I woke up, my head was resting on the table and someone had put a pillow under it. Iggy was reading something off the computer screen looking pleased but angry at the same time. There was a little bit off light creeping through the curtains.

"Morning." I yawned sitting up and stretching. The baby stirred, waking up too.

"I think I've cracked it." he said quietly. There was a trace of hurt in his eyes. "The signals from the things lead to the newspaper offices which was what I suspected. So I decided to hack into their computers so I could see which 'genius' came up with this plan. I did a little digging around the editor's inbox and found the orders for the cameras. There are twelve of them by the way. I'll get rid of them later. I went back further and found a bunch of emails between him and Tom Griffiths."

"Oh Iggy, your dad." I said softly putting a hand on his shoulder. He was shaking with anger.

"It was them all along. They fed them our address, our phone number, they came up with the plan. The cameras are made by the company my dad works for. Why didn't I see this?" Iggy sounded infuriated and guilty.

"Darling, you couldn't have known. It's okay."

"No, it's not okay. It's them, it's always them." He stood up.

"What are you doing?" I asked worriedly.

"I'm going to call them and give them a piece of my mind." He growled, going to find the phone which was in the back longue. I followed him, he looked to angry to be left alone. He dialled, getting angrier by the second. I sat on the couch watching him, as he paced waiting for them to answer, with a shocked expression on his face.

"How dare you!" He yelled into the receiver. "Yes I did... where the hell do you get off? I told you to stay out of my life!... I'm not your son and I never have been... in fact I do know, I have a child of my own, remember you sold her pictures to magazine when she was only three months old... That's because I would never do this to her!" Ally and Jacob ran into the room. When they saw Iggy yelling to the phone, they stood in the doorway with a similar expression to mine.

"You have never been my parents!... You don't deserve to be parents!... Oh, what would you know about supporting a family!... I have my own way of doing it!... we live in a big house, with two cars and a pool and there is food in pantry, we go on a lot of vacations and my daughter has plenty of toys! How's that for financial security?! I don't need your money, I can support my family on my own! I've never needed you!... You won't make money off them ever again... I'm going to sue you and all you reporter friends!... Expect a call from my lawyer." Iggy hung up the phone looking angrier than I had ever seen him. He kicked the coffee table in fury and sank down into the other couch and buried his face in his hands.

I got up and moved to the couch next to him. I wrapped my arms around him. I got a small glimpse of his face and he looked like he was nearly crying. This scared me. There were only two occasions before that I had remembered Iggy crying. And even then, it had been happy occasions and it had only been a tear that he had wiped away quickly, claiming it was never there. But now, his breathing was shaky and he wasn't saying anything. He was really upset, usually he'd just brush it off and keep going but now, he felt betrayed, annoyed, angry, worthless. All things someone as kind and as loving as he was shouldn't feel.

"Shhh." I soothed him, stroking his hair. "It's going to be okay." Usually it was him comforting me, not the other way around. This was kinda strange.

"Can't you see? I've screwed up again. I should have known it was them because it always is. I can't even keep my family safe from my own parents! What kind of father am I?"

"Honey, you didn't screw up and you're a wonderful father. This is out of your control. Don't blame yourself. Shh, it's okay. We'll get through this." I said defiantly. I needed him to believe me. To stop being guilty and learn how much he really did for us. How much he meant to me. How much I needed him.

"Daddy?" a small voice said from the doorway. Lily was standing in front of Ally and Jacob, watching us worriedly. She ran over to us and jumped up on Iggy's other side. "What's wrong?" she patted his arm.

"I'm fine." he said gruffly. Always the masochist. Lily snuggled up to him.

"You're not fine daddy, you look really upset." She was so sweet. I saw Ally and Jacob leave the room out of the corner of my eye. Iggy sighed and took his hands away from his face. He looked devastated. Lily and I just hugged him harder. He needed us right now. We sat huddled together for awhile until Iggy abruptly stood up.

"I should start calling the lawyers and stuff." He mumbled not looking either of us in the eye. I knew how this would go. He was embarrassed and now he was planning to hide somewhere until he could manage to conceal his emotions. It wasn't healthy. "I'll be in the office." He left before I could say anything. I sighed.

"Mummy, is daddy going to be okay?" Lily asked.

"Yeah, I think he's going to be alright. He just needs some alone time. But make sure you let him know that you love him and what a good daddy he is."

"I will. And he is a really good daddy."

"I know. Come on. Let's go find some breakfast." I picked her up and we went into the dining room where Ally and Jacob had made breakfast. I put Lily in her highchair, where her food was sitting on the tray, and sat down at the table.

"Thanks guys." I said helping myself to some. I was starving. It wasn't Iggy-grade food but it was pretty good.

"We didn't think Iggy would..." Ally trailed off.

"Yeah, he's really upset. I've never seen him like this." I sighed gazing out the window distantly. How could Iggy's parents do that to him?

*~*~*~*~*~*

By mid-morning Iggy had not emerged from the office. I was sitting in the longue with Ally and Jacob, reading a book. Lily and Shadow were upstairs and Typa was on Jacob's lap. Iggy strolled into the room, whistling to himself, looking happy and carrying a baseball bat over his shoulder.

"Baseball bat, matches, explosives, what am I missing?" he asked himself. I put my book down and giving Iggy a suspicious look.

"Iggy, I'm glad to see that you've cheered up but what are you doing with a baseball bat, matches and explosives." I inquired and Iggy just grinned.

"I'm going to kill those cameras." He snapped his fingers. "A crow bar! That's what I need." He hurried out of the room.

"Okay darling, have fun." I called after him, laughing to myself.


	9. Smiling through the pain

**A/N: Hey guys, sorry updates have been a bit slow lately but SBH have just started NCEA which are really important qualifictations that we need to get into Uni, get a job and stuff like that. But we're still committed to updating this story updates might just be a bit slower than normal. But hopefully this chapter, which is the longest so far and one of my favourites makes up for it. **

**In other news, in a little while I will be posting a new story that has one shots of the nine year gap that was between this story and Feel the rain. If there's anything that you wanted to know about what happened to Violet, Iggy and the rest of the flock I will be taking suggestions for chapters so just add them to your reviews. Enjoy the chapter**

**Chapter Nine- Smiling through the pain**

"Violet, wake up." Someone was shaking me awake. I opened my eyes and saw Iggy sitting n the edge of the bed trying to wake me. "Hey sleepy-head, you've got to get up. We're meeting with the lawyers today." I yawned and sat up. A couple of days had passed since Iggy had found out that his parents were behind the photos. He'd been acting weird. He had been quieter and not as arrogant. He was avoiding everyone most of the time, except me and Lily. If Ally or Fang tried to start a joking argument with him, he'd simply nod and leave the room, rather than defending his pride like normal.

"Why does it have to be this early?" I groaned. "I mean, my own step-father is leading the team, we could talk about it anytime."

"I know honey, you're tired. But this was the only time all the lawyers could get together." I sighed and dragged myself out of bed.

"I call first shower!" I told Iggy giggling. He smiled down at me.

"Like you'd let me go before you. Unless you want me to join you..." he trailed off leaning down to kiss me. I got lost in the kiss, it cleared my mind of everything. Eventually I remembered what was going on and pulled out of the kiss.

"Keep it your pants." I patted his chest and went into the bathroom. When I emerged dressed in a bathrobe, I found Iggy dutifully making the bed, like he had been trained to do. "Well done." I said kissing him on the cheek.

"Can I have a shower now?" He asked straightening a pillow.

"Yep," I said. Iggy grabbed his suit that he was planning on wearing and went into the bathroom. After rifling through all my maternity clothes, I found nothing to wear that would look professional enough even though I had the perfect thing to wear, but it didn't fit me anymore. I sighed and decided I needed a second opinion. I went down the hall and knocked on Ally and Jacob's door.

"Ally, sorry to wake you. But I'm kinda having a fashion emergency." Ally opened the door within moments.

"What's the problem?" She asked looking at me in my dressing gown.

"I have nothing to wear to the lawyer's office." I explained as we walked into my room. We went straight into my wardrobe. She started digging through all my clothes while I just stood back.

"I had something to wear but I don't fit it right now." I explained with a sigh resting my hand on my massive baby bump. Could it possibly get much bigger?

"Try this." Ally said passing me a dress. She left the wardrobe while I put it on. It was dark blue and flowed out after the bust so it was loose over the baby bump. The sleeves stopped at my elbows. I went out and showed Ally who gave it a nod of approval before dragging me back into the wardrobe. She handed me a black belt and then started digging through all my shoes. The belt went under my bust. Ally gave me a pair of black peep-toed heels which I had forgotten I had. When I put them on she looked me up and down.

"Perfect." She decided. "Sexy but conservative, shows you mean business."

"Does it make me look amazingly huge and fat?" I asked.

"No! You look gorgeous!" She claimed but I gave her a disbelieving look. "Here, I'll prove it to you. Iggy come here!" Ally called. Iggy walked into the wardrobe fully dressed in his black suit, white shirt and black tie. He looked dashing. When he saw me his mouth dropped open.

"You look amazing." He said breathlessly.

"You scrub up pretty well yourself." I smiled at him.

"Okay, thanks for your help." Ally said pushing Iggy out the door. "Now do you believe me?" I blushed.

"I guess." I said looking down. "I'd better go do my hair. Thank you so much." I hugged her quickly and went into the bathroom. I blow dried it and left it straight putting a navy-blue headband in it that pretty much matched the shade of the dress. I applied light make up and went down stairs and into the dining room sitting down next to Iggy.

"Mummy! You look so pretty!" Lily said excitedly, grinning at me. I smiled at her.

"Thank you baby. You're so sweet." Iggy stood up and went into the kitchen returning with a plate of toast for me.

"There you go my beautiful wife." He kissed me on the top of my head before sitting down again.

"Thanks darling." I started eating carefully so I wouldn't get any on my dress. The baby started kicking repetitively as if he was bored. Luckily he wasn't kicking too hard and stopped as soon as I put my hand on my stomach. I think he just wanted some attention. We chattered normally during breakfast with Iggy putting in the least input in contrast to normally talking the most.

"So, Lily needs a nap at one, straight after lunch or she'll just get crabby. She needs her two soft toys or she won't sleep" I explained to Ally while Iggy and Jacob cleared the table and did the dishes like the good guys they were. The kids had gone off to play in the lounge. "And the potty training thing. I hate to sound like I don't believe in her, because I do, but she is probably going to have an accident. What you need to do, is not make a big fuss over it, reassure her, clean it up and she should be fine. Just remind her to go every couple of hours. Oh, and put a nappy on her before she goes to bed. I don't think we'll be back until late. I think that's everything." Iggy poked his head in the dining room.

"We've gotta get going soon." He told me.

"Okay, we'd better say goodbye to Lily then." We both went into the lounge, where Lily and Shadow were playing with the blocks. Iggy picked Lily up.

"Bye baby. We're going out. Love you."He kissed her on the forehead and passed her over to me.

"Love you too daddy." She said. He left the room to go start up the car. I hugged her tightly.

"I love you so much. Be a good girl okay? Have a good day, I'll miss you."

"See you later mummy, I love you." I put her down and went out to the car, saying goodbye to Ally and Jacob on the way out. I got into the passenger seat of Iggy's car. He was waiting in the driver's seat. As I started doing up my seat belt, he backed down the driveway.

*~*~*~*~*~*

An hour later, Iggy and I were sitting in a board room surrounded by lawyers. You know why they call it a boardroom, because you get so bored in them. I was trying not to doze off and Iggy was doodling on some paper. I wasn't quite sure what he was drawing but it looked like some form of explosive. We weren't really paying attention to what the lawyers were saying and only speaking when we were asked questions.

We took a break for lunch. Iggy and I went to a little cafe trying to remain inconspicuous but I'm pretty sure some people recognised us. Iggy paid for lunch and much to his annoyance I insisted I'd pay for dinner. But an hour before we were going to be released for dinner I realised I'd left my wallet at home.

"Iggy, can you go home and get my wallet." I whispered to him.

"Why, I can pay for dinner. It's fine."

"No Iggy, I want to pay. Please can you go get it? It's on my bedside table." I pouted at him and he sighed. He got up and excused himself from the room.

**Lily POV**

"Why don't you and Shadow go play while we make dinner?" Aunt Ally told me. I nodded eagerly as it would be a perfect chance to put my plan into place.

"That sounds great Aunt Ally." I said giving her an innocent smile. "Bye." I waved running out of the room, grabbing Shadow's arm to drag him along with me.

"What are we playing?" He asked as we hurried up the stairs.

"We're not playing." I said distractedly.

"Then what are we doing?"

"We're being spies."

"What's the mission?" He sounded kinda scared.

"We're sneaking into my mummy and daddy's bedroom." I said as we entered their room.

"Okay..." Shadow said hesitantly

"You look in the wardrobe and I'll look in the bedside tables." I instructed, jumping up on the bed and pulling open the draw of the bedside table. There was not much unusual in there, just a hairbrush, some make-up, photos of our family. Although, I did find a small box of long white things, which were shoved right at the back like they hadn't been used in months. I held up the box.

"Shadow, what do you think these are?" I showed him the box and the white things inside them. His eyes widened.

"You should put those away." He warned.

"So, you know what they are?"

"Nooooo."

"You so do! Why won't you tell me?!"

"They're for really big girls like our mummies."

"What do they do with them?"

"Ask your mum."

"You're no fun." I pouted putting the box back in the draw and closing it. I crawled over to daddy's side and opened his bedside drawer. He had magazines with naked ladies on them. I found a box with little packages in it. I opened one and found a weirdly shaped balloon.

"Shadow! Daddy has balloons in his drawer." I stared blowing one up as Shadow came out of the wardrobe.

"Why would he have... oh." Shadow looked horrified.

"Oh my gosh! It tastes like strawberry!" I giggled. Shadow blushed.

"Maybe you should but it away."

"Why?"

"Ah, it's not a balloon."

"Really? What is it?"

"Something that adults use to stop getting pregnant." This confused me.

"Huh? But my mummy is pregnant."

"They, ah, use them when they aren't pregnant."

"Why does have them then?"

"Why don't you ask your dad?"

"He's not here, he's out with mummy." As I said this daddy came into the room, "Hi daddy!" I said to him and he smiled at me. He picked mummy's wallet up off her bedside table, I guess she left it behind.

"Oh no." Shadow mumbled hiding back in the wardrobe.

"Daddy, I've got a question to ask you." I told him bouncing over to him, hiding the balloon behind my back.

"Sure princess, what is it?"

"Why do you have strawberry-flavoured balloons when mummy is pregnant?"

"I don't have- crap." I showed him the strawberry flavoured balloon. "Lily, give me the balloon."

"No, I don't want to. And why do you have pictures of naked ladies in your drawer daddy?"

"Shit." Ooh, daddy said a naughty word. "Lily, please give me the balloon." I jumped off the bed, dropping the balloon. I ran down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"AUNT ALLY!" she turned around and crouched down to my level. "Daddy is trying to take the strawberry flavoured balloon of me." I sniffled, hugging her. "And he has pictures of naked ladies! And he said a bad word!"

"Honey, those aren't balloons." Shadow walked into the room.

"I tried to warn her." He said standing beside us. Daddy ran in.

"How much did she tell you?" He asked Aunt Ally. She stood up and glared at him. Oh, they were going to argue. As this happened **all **the time and it was kinda getting old, I walked out of the kitchen and into the lounge. I went over to my dollhouse and started taking all my dolls out. I needed to brush their hair and change all their outfits. I hadn't played with them all day! Shadow came in and started playing with his toy cars. Those cars were stupid. They weren't even big enough to fit a Barbie in! What was the point? I wanted a pink Barbie convertable so my Barbies could go shopping and drive to the beach. I was hoping to get one for my birthday and had been dropping hints around Aunt Angel for a while.

When I was brushing the hair of my last doll, Aunt Ally came into the room.

"Hey guys, dinners ready." Shadow stopped playing but I didn't.

"I'm almost finished." I told her brushing the dolls hair once more. I had to pay special attention to this doll which I called Ally because she really looked like Aunt Ally, I had even used nail polish to paint a green streak in her hair. I had named dolls after mummy, Angel, Nudge and Max as well. I put the doll back in the house and skipped over to Aunt Ally. "I'm done!" I announced as we walked into the dining room. Aunt Ally lifted me into my highchair. It was the one thing that the stupid baby hadn't got yet and wanted to hang onto it as long as possible. Just see him try to take it of me.

"Pizza! Yay!" I said happily as Aunt Ally put my dinner in front of me. "Thank you!" I started eating, it was really good! As I was eating something occurred to me.

"Aunt Ally? Why does daddy have pictures of naked ladies in his drawer? Cause mummy is prettier than all of them and I bet she's much nicer." Aunt Ally smiled at me.

"Lily, I really don't know how your fathers mind works."

"He's a really good daddy but he's a little stupid sometimes." Aunt Ally nodded in agreement.

"That's a perfect description of him." After dinner we decided to watch a movie.

"Ooh! Let's watch Enchanted!" I suggested "It's got princes and princesses and animals and singing and dancing and Dr McDreamy!"

"No, let's watch Transformers!" Shadow argued.

"Guys, relax. I know what movie we're going to watch." Aunt Ally said settling the argument.

**Violet POV**

Iggy and I got home at around eight. I saw something new in the garage. I guess Ally's car had arrived. I expected to find Lily tucked up in bed but as we walked in the door I was greeted by Lily. She had chocolate smeared all over her face and was jumping up and down energetically.

"Hi mummy! Hi daddy!" She greeted us, still bouncing.

"Uh hey princess, who gave you chocolate?" Iggy asked sounding a little scared.

"I found it! Aunt Ally and Uncle Jacob and Shadow and Typa all falled asleep and I was hungry so I went to find some food and I flied up to the top of the pantry and I saw some chocolate."

"Iggy, do you think you could give her a bath and get all the chocolate off her face. It might calm her down too." I asked sweetly, turning to him. Iggy gave me an exasperated look.

"Fine," He sighed. "Come on Lils," Lily started skipping down the hall, giggling away. Iggy followed after her reluctantly. I cleaned up the chocolate mess Lily had made and went into the lounge where Ally, Jacob, Shadow and Typa were all cuddled up asleep. It was so cute. There were movie credits rolling on the TV screen, I wonder what movie they watched. I smiled at the sleeping family and started shutting all the curtains in the longue. I had gotten tired of have a home without the sunlight streaming through and had let the curtains be opened again once Iggy destroyed all the cameras. He'd done the job effectively because no new pictures had showed up in the paper.

As I turned around from the windows, I saw Ally and Jacob had woken up.

"Aren't you guys adorable." I teased laughing.

"How was the lawyer's office?" Ally asked. I made a face.

"Boring." I sighed sitting down, yawning tiredly. As soon as Lily settled down and went to bed, I would probably go to bed myself. Growing a baby was a lot of hard work. I felt exhausted. There was a loud splash and Lily's laughter from the bathroom followed by a shriek from Iggy.

"Argh! Lily don't splash me! I'm all wet now!" His voice carried all the way into the lounge. We all started laughing.

"Lily got into the chocolate and she's all hyper. Iggy's trying to give her a bath." I explained. The credits on TV had finished. "What movie did you guys watch?"

"Chain-saw massacre." Ally said and my eyes widened.

"You let my daughter watch what?" I shrieked.

"Kidding, we watched bridge to Terabithia. Do you think I'd let the kids watch that?" I blushed. Iggy came into the room, soaked from head to toe, carrying Lily who was wrapped in a towel, squirming and giggling. He handed her to me and slouched off to get dry.

"What did you do?" I asked Lily, trying not to laugh.

"I splashed him! It was funny, he screamed like a girl!" She laughed even harder.

"You crazy little child." I smiled shaking my head. "Come on, let's get you dressed and into bed." I stood up carrying her upstairs.

"I'm not tired; I don't wanna go to bed." She argued as we went into her room. She was going to come off her sugar high at any time now and then she'd be straight to sleep. I changed her into her pyjamas and afterwards she started bouncing up and down on the bed.

"Hey, settle down." She flopped down on the bed; I sat down next to her, leaning against the wall. I kicked my shoes off and relaxed. Lily was still wide awake. "I'll read you a story, go get one of the bookshelf." Lily jumped off the bed and ran to the bookshelf and returned with a book. It was goldilocks and the three bears. I read it to her while she cuddled into my side. When I finished the book, Iggy came into the room. He looked relived to find Lily looking sleepy and came over and kissed both of us on the forehead.

"Night Princess." He said quietly to her. "I'll be downstairs." He told me and left the room. I sat there for awhile, stroking Lily's hair to make her fall asleep. When I saw that her eyes were closed, I thought about getting up and going downstairs. But instead I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

A week later it was early in the morning of Lily's birthday. I was asleep on Iggy's chest and it was about six in the morning. We were both woken up by Lily running into our room and jumping on the bed.

"Mummy! Daddy! Wake up!" She babbled excitedly. Iggy and I sat up.

"Happy birthday baby." Iggy yawned pulling her into a hug.

"Yeah, happy birthday." I said sleepily, kissing the top of her head.

"Can we go open the presents now? Pleeeeeaaaase?" She begged.

"It's your birthday; you can do what you want." Iggy told her. Lily gabbed both of our hands and started pulling us out of bed. I reluctantly pulled myself out of bed and followed her downstairs to the lounge where her pile of presents waiting on the floor that we had wrapped up last night, in bright pink Barbie wrapping paper. Hey eyes immediately went to the one that was bigger than her.

"Wow, did you get me a pony?" She asked.

"Not exactly." Iggy said slowly as Lily pouted. She changed her expression into a smile and ran over to the biggest present and started ripping it open. Iggy stood over her smiling while I grabbed the camera off the coffee table and started taking pictures of her opening her presents. Ally, Jacob, Shadow and Typa came in as Lily tore off the last of the paper, revealing a box.

"Daddy, can you help me open the box?" Lily asked Iggy who opened it and picked Lily up so she could look inside. Suddenly a wide smile broke out on Lily's face. She hugged Iggy around the neck.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" She squealed. "I really wanted a new doll house. There's not enough room for all my dolls in my old one." I looked over at the old dollhouse in the corner. Iggy and Fang spoiled her so much with new dolls that her dollhouse had dolls sticking out the windows. Iggy put Lily down and she ran over to me and hugged me around the legs.

"I really love my present mummy!" She thanked me. I tried my best to hug her back.

"I'm glad you like it. Do you want to go open your other presents from me and daddy." I asked her. She nodded and ran back to the presents, flopping on the floor and ripping through the rest of them. She opened new dolls, new soft toys and new furniture for her dolls house. After hugging Iggy and I multiple times, babbling her thanks. Ally stepped forward and held out two presents. Lily took the larger one first and opened it. It was a princess dress up set complete with a tiara, a dress and glass slippers. Lily smiled widely.

"Every little girl wants to be a princess and now you can be." Ally explained as Lily hugged her.

"Thank you Aunt Ally, it's really great." Lily and Ally pulled apart and Lily opened the next present [write something here]

I noticed that Shadow was slowly approaching Lily holding a present in his hand, he looked embarrassed. If Iggy saw this it would not be good, luckily he was standing next to me, looking in another direction. I decided to distract him so that Shadow could give the present without Iggy exploding in anger. So I pushed his against a wall and started making out with him. It was almost dizzying and I forgot about why I was doing this. Until I heard someone clear their throat bringing me back to reality.

"Mummy and Daddy, stop eating each other's faces." Lily told us off sternly. We broke apart, both blushing. Lily had a disapproving expression on her face and her arms were folded. She reminded me of me when I told Iggy off. "It's not nice to look at." Iggy laughed and scooped Lily up.

"Who died and made you queen of everyone?" he asked Lily who gave him a cute smirk.

"You told me I could do whatever I wanted today."

"I guess that means you get to pick what we have for breakfast." Lily's face lit up.

"Pancakes!" She exclaimed.

"Okay, wanna help me make them?" Lily nodded and she and Iggy went into the kitchen. Ally and Jacob took their kids upstairs to get them dressed. I decided to clean up all the wrapping paper, but as a bent over to pick up a piece near me, my stomach got in the way. I kept trying to reach the piece of paper but I couldn't. I let out a cry of frustration as tears rolled down my cheeks. Iggy came into the room.

"What's wrong?" He pulled me into a hug.

"I'm hopeless." I sniffed into his chest. "I can't even pick up stupid paper of the floor because I'm so fat." I felt stupid now. Bursting into tears over paper.

"You're not hopeless or fat. Shh." Iggy comforted me. "Come on, help us make the pancakes. I'll get the paper later." Iggy slung one arm over my shoulders, wiping the tears away with his free hand. We went into the kitchen, Lily was sitting on the edge of the bench stirring the pancake mixture, which, judging by the mess around her, they had made them from scratch. Lily was taking after her father in regards to cooking.

"Why don't you set the table honey?" Iggy suggested. I nodded. I was pretty sure I could do that. I set it perfectly, happy that I could at least do something without getting over hormonal and crying. I sat at the table admiring my work. Iggy came in with a couple of plates of pancakes with all the trimmings. Lily trailed behind carrying one plate carefully. They put them down at the set tables. We were all set to eat once Ally, Jacob, Shadow and Typa showed up. Iggy went to lift Lily intro her highchair but she shook her head.

"No daddy. I want to sit at the table. Like a big girl." Iggy looked at her in shock. Ever since she moved into a bed, she'd been clinging to her highchair because it was the last thing that kept her as the baby. "I'm two now." She clarified holding up two fingers to prove her point. Iggy nodded at her and went out of the room for a minute. He returned with a couch cushion that he put on the chair to my right. Lily climbed up onto the chair, swinging her legs happily. Iggy sat down on Lily's other side. Ally, Jacob, Shadow and Typa came into the dining room and took their places. We all started eating.

"Do you remember what you were doing this time two years ago? Or have you suppressed that painful memory." Iggy grinned at me while cutting up Lily's pancake for her. I looked up at the clock. It was almost two years to the minute that Lily was born.

"I remember."

"What were you doing mummy?" Lily asked.

"I was giving birth to you."

"What were you doing daddy?"

"I was getting sworn at, my hand broken, stuff thrown at me and getting told that I was the most irresponsible, stupid, inconsiderate excuse for a man that ever existed." Iggy laughed. Lily looked shocked.

"Who would do that to you?! And on the day that your first baby was born?!"

"Your mother did all those things to me. And in six weeks or so I'll have to go through the same thing again."

"Why?" Lily asked turning to me.

"Because I was in a whole lot of pain and daddy was responsible. And yes Iggy, I do plan on making you share my pain as much as I can." Iggy flinched. "You'll understand someday." I told Lily.

"Not if I have anything to do with it!" Iggy exclaimed. I rolled my eyes at him.

*~*~*~*~*

That afternoon, I was sitting on the couch with Ally. I was watching Lily playing with her dolls, getting them ready for moving houses. Shadow was playing with his toy cars next to her. Lily jumped up and went over to the toys grabbing a dump truck and a couple of super hero action figures. She started putting her dolls' furniture from her old dolls house onto the dump truck. Shadow looked annoyed.

"What are you doing?" He asked her incredulously. "That's not supposed to be used by girly dolls."

"It's a moving truck!" Lily beamed not seeing any problems.

"What do you need superman and batman for then?"

"They're the moving men and then they're going to the housewarming party."

"They have to save the world. They don't have time to go to parties."

"Please Shadow?" Lily gave him bambi eyes and pouted. Shadow sighed.

"Fine." he returned to playing with his cars. Lily grinned and went back to moving the furniture from one dollhouse to another.

"I think she's the only person he'd let do that." Ally muttered to me.

"I think we were right about them." I agreed. "I'd better go check on Iggy. He's obsessing over getting the cake perfect." I stood up and went into the kitchen. Iggy had made a beautiful looking cake with pink icing and frosted flowers. _Happy Birthday Lily_ was written on it in purple writing.

"That looks amazing." I exclaimed going to stand next to him. He sighed.

"No it's not. The 'd' is slightly wonky and that frosted flower isn't exactly in the right place." I grabbed him by the shoulders.

"Iggy, your cake is fine. And you're so far in the closest you're in Narnia." He scowled at me.

"How many times do I have to tell you people I'm not gay?"

"Well, you tell us but then you go and do something like this." I giggled leaving the room.

*~*~*~*~*

"Violet, hurry up!" Iggy banged on the bathroom door. I sighed and opened the door. Iggy was standing there. He looked impatient. "How long do you need in there? You take forever to get ready." He complained.

"It takes a lot of work to look this good." I smirked at him.

"You look good anytime. Well, you've held us up long enough, we'd better get on our way." Iggy picked up Lily, who was sitting on our bed, and we went downstairs to the garage. Iggy started strapping Lily into her car seat. Ally was getting into the driver's seat of her new car. Her and Iggy had found a new thing to argue over, who had the better car.

"You know, I'd challenge you to a race but your car is so sleek and shiny, I wouldn't want it to get dirty when it eats my cars dust." He bragged shutting Lily's car door. I rolled my eyes. Here we go again...

"Oh I wouldn't worry about my car if I was you."

"Please, it's all show. At least my car has some power." Iggy proceeded to make engine noises, like the moron he was.

"Okay then. Let's race."

"Dude, if you're smart you won't race Ally." Jacob interjected. Iggy smirked.

"You're on!" He declared, ignore Jacob's advice completely. I groaned. We were never going to get to the restaurant.

"You're dead. There's no way you can win." Jacob shook his head sadly.

"I believe in my car!" Iggy argued.

"It's not the car, it's the driving experience." Ally retorted. This was getting out of hand. It's was Lily's birthday and these two were arguing over cars.

"No one will be racing!" I scolded. But they kept on going. "Oh for god's sake." I muttered irritably.

"I'll settle this. In the past I've... how do I put this... had some practise with this sort of thing so I would whoop your ass." Ally said menacingly.

"I-" Iggy opened his mouth but I cut him off.

"Shut your mouth or I'm driving! You pick." I snapped. Iggy shut his mouth immediately. "Good choice." Iggy mumbled something about me being hormonal. I hit him over the head and stormed around to my car door, opening the door roughly. I got in and slammed it shut. Iggy got in and gave me a sheepish look. I just glared at him. He sighed and started up the car. He sighed and started up the car. We drove in silence along the road until there was a flash.

"What was that?" I asked frantically. I looked out my window. In the car next to me was a photographer. "Iggy, the guy in the car next to us has a camera and he's taking pictures." Iggy's eyes widened.

"Hold on. I'm gonna try lose them." Iggy gripped the steering wheel and sped up but so did the paparazzi, they took more pictures. I was scared that the flashing would distract Iggy but he was keeping his eyes on the road, focusing.

"What's going on?" Lily asked from the back sounding terrified. I looked at her over my shoulder and saw the scared expression on her face. "What was the flashing?" She started to cry.

"Shh, baby it's okay." I comforted her. Then there was a bang from the paparazzi car. Lily shrieked in fear. I turned so I could see what happened. Their tires had blown. I saw Ally's car behind us. She had obviously used her electricity. I mentally thanked her. Iggy turned down a side street to get away from the paparazzi, taking the long way to the restaurant. He seemed to relax and slow down as soon as we were out of sight of the car but poor Lily didn't have a clue what was going on and kept crying. I couldn't really comfort properly her until we stopped. As soon as Iggy parked outside the restaurant, I quickly got out of the car and opened her car door. I pulled her into a hug and she cried into my shoulder. I rubbed her back comfortingly and after locking up the car Iggy came over to us.

"You alright Princess?" He asked, kissing the top of her head.

"I d-d-didn't like that flashing." She sobbed.

"I know baby. But it's all gone now. They're not going to bother us tonight anymore. We'd better get inside." I passed Lily to Iggy. We went into the restaurant and the manager took us down to the private room that Iggy had hired for the evening. The rest of the flock were waiting for us there. Lily had stopped crying by then but she was clinging to Iggy tightly. This incident had just been an example of how the paparazzi were getting in the way of our lives. I watched her closely; she seemed really shaken by the whole thing.

Despite that first upset, we had a really enjoyable dinner. Lily cheered up once she got her presents from the rest of the flock. A pink Barbie car from Angel, a pretty dress from Nudge, a my little pony play set from Gazzy and her favourite a fairy doll from Max and Fang that actually flew. We ate, talked and laughed. Iggy's cake went down a hit despite all its 'problems'. Fang recalled that night that Lily was born, paying particular detail to how much Iggy freaked out. Then Iggy countered with the story of what happened when Fang first held Lily.

"You see, what happened, everyone was eager to hold Lily but Fang hung around the back reluctantly. Finally, Max made him hold her and I don't know what she did to him but that girl has some sort of powerful gift because he wouldn't give her back." Iggy snorted. Fang gave him a death glare but Lily was curled up on his lap, asleep and he was tenderly stroking her hair. I stood up to go to the bathroom. On my way back, someone grabbed me by the arm and there were cameras flashing everywhere. I tripped onto the ground. I crawled into a corner trying to cover my face. I was so scared, what if they hurt the baby?

"Get away from her!" Came a growl. Iggy pushed his way through the crowd and pulled me up. He shoved people out of our way, snarling and looking livid. He looked scary. One tried to take a picture of us as we were trying to escape but Iggy snatched his camera off him and threw it into a wall. As soon as we were away from them. He put an arm around me protectively.

"Are you okay?" He asked worriedly. I nodded, holding onto him tightly with trembling hands while tears spilled over. The baby was kicking frantically, they had scared him too. We went back to the private room. Iggy opened the door and half carried me inside. The flock all looked up when we came in.

"What happened?!" Fang inquired.

"Are you okay?!" Ally asked me.

"The paparazzi ambushed her. When I found her, she was on the ground backed into a corner." Iggy explained. "I don't think she got hurt." Iggy and I sat down again but I didn't let go of him. I couldn't seem to stop shaking and crying. Iggy kept his arms around me comfortingly.

"C-c-can we go home?" I choked out when I calmed down slightly. Iggy nodded.

"I'll just go sort out the bill and check that it's clear." I reluctantly let go of him and he stood up and left the room. I wrapped my arms around my stomach to try and calm down the baby, who was still kicking like he was upset. Iggy returned after five minutes.

"The restaurant set security on the paparazzi, it's okay for us to leave. I paid the bill too." I stood up gathering together Lily's presents while Iggy picked up Lily. She had somehow managed to stay asleep despite all the commotion. We said our goodbyes to everyone and went out to the car. It was eerily quiet outside. I kept expecting a photographer to jump out and start taking photos and every sound made me jump. I sat in the car, freaking out as I waited for Iggy to put Lily in her car seat. I just wanted to get out of here. Finally, Iggy got into the driver's seat and started the car.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Iggy asked as he drove.

"I'm fine. I was just freaked out I guess." I mumbled looking down at my hands.

"It'll be over soon."

"That's only if we win. I was watching the news and they had a bunch of legal analysists looking at it and they said we didn't even have much of case and there was no chance that we would win."

"Violet, you need to stop watching the coverage of it, they are a part of the media who are doing this to us. If we win, they won't get a chance to get their ratings up by showing pictures of us. We have an amazing team of lawyers on our side and we are in the right. Stop stressing it's not good for you."

"I can't help it. I just sit there and try not to think about it but then the thoughts about not winning just creep into my head." I sighed.

"You're such a worrier." Iggy teased trying to lighten the mood.

"That's a bit like the pot calling the kettle black." Despite all our jokes I felt scared and angry on the inside. They had ruined what had been almost been a perfect day. They made my daughter, my two-year old daughter, terrified on her birthday. Everything about my life felt out of my control right now.

*~*~*~*~*~*

I let out a heavy sigh as I eased myself onto the couch. There was something drastically wrong with me. I had been ignoring all the signs until now. With everything that had been going on, I had overlooked them the things that were now staring me straight in the face. I sat on the couch with my head in my hands wondering how I couldn't have picked up on something that I was supposed to be looking out for. Iggy came into the lounge.

"We're going now." he was dressed for baseball. We had all planned to play a game together, the whole family. To blow off some steam before the court trial tomorrow.

"Sorry Ig, I'm not going." Iggy stared at me blankly. "I'm just too tired. I wouldn't be able to play anyway so I thought I should probably use this time to relax in peace and catch up on some sleep." I lied. That was far from what I was planning to do.

"That might be the best idea. You look so tired."

"I feel tired." This was truthful. I wished I could just crawl into to bed and sleep until this whole drama was over.

"Okay, make sure you sleep on the bed. The couch is going to kill your back."

"As if that didn't hurt enough already." I joked, it was so hard to keep from breaking down in tears and telling Iggy everything. But I just couldn't, this would kill him. I hugged him tightly. "I love you so much. I'm the luckiest person on earth to have someone as wonderful as you for a husband." Iggy seemed startled by my sudden display of affection. But he hugged me back just as hard.

"I love you too. And I think _I'm_ the luckiest person. Because I married my perfect girl. Not many guys can say that." I let a tear escape. He could say the most thoughtful things. I couldn't do better for someone to spend the rest of my life with. However long that would be. "I think we're both lucky, cause we have a beautiful, kind and smart daughter and in just over a month were going to have a happy and healthy son."

"Yeah, healthy." I mumbled.

"I'd better get going. I promised Lily I'd teach her how to hit the ball."

"Okay, have fun." Iggy kissed the top of my head and then was gone. I felt hollow and empty without him. But I had no time to wallow in self pity. I waited for as long as it would take for them to get to the flocks house and then I walked out to the garage, grabbing my keys and bag on the way out. I had a doctor's appointment to get to.

*~*~*~*~*

I sat in the waiting room, reading a magazine. I heard whispers from around me.

"Do you think that's her?" a woman asked her friend.

"Who, Violet Ride?" The friend responded.

"Yeah, it looks like her."

"Can you believe it, we're in the same room as a celebrity. We go to the same obstetrician's office as a celebrity. " I wasn't a celebrity, I wasn't this way by choice. When my name was called even more excited whispers erupted. As long as there weren't any cameras flashing I could handle it. I gave the samples, my blood pressure taken and was weighed. The nurse who was writing down my weight and taking my blood-pressure frowned when she saw them both. Finally, I was sitting in a chair while Doctor Lodani sat across from me looking at all the results of the tests that had just been taken. She, like the nurse, was frowning as she read them.

"So do I have it?" I asked, unable to stand not knowing. "Please, just tell me straight out, don't sugar coat anything." Doctor Lodani put down the papers and looked at me.

"You have all the symptoms. I'll need to run more tests tomorrow to make sure but I'm pretty sure you have preeclampsia and quite a severe case by the looks of it." I hung my head and tears welled in my eyes. It felt like I had just been dealt a hard blow.

"How did it..." I trailed off unable to finish the sentence.

"It was most likely stress induced. I can imagine you haven't been having the easiest time at the moment." I nodded sadly, before straightening up.

"Where do we go from here?" I was trying to keeping fighting. I had always learnt to make plans of action, come up with solutions rather than focusing on the problem.

"Preeclampsia is potentially fatal to both the mother and the baby. There is a high chance that you will go into labour prematurely and your baby will have a low birth weight. The only cure for it really is for the baby to be born but there are things we can do to get you to carry to full term. I'm going to run all these tests again tomorrow after your court case and depending on the results it will either be bed rest or you will be admitted to hospital for the remainder of your pregnancy. If things are really bad we'll have to consider inducing labour early."

"Is there anything I can do to help it?"

"I suggest you go home, rest and relax as best you can."

*~*~*~*~*~*

I cried silently the whole way home. I didn't care that my life was in danger, it had been many times before, I was more concerned about my baby. How I could I have let this happen to him. It was my fault. I parked in the garage and walked slowly into the house. I walked up the stairs to my room and I got a shock when I found Ally sitting on the bed.

"Ally? I thought you went with the others." I said in surprise.

"I did but I came home to put Typa down for a nap. Iggy asked me to check on you. I came in here and you were gone. Where have you been?" She had been worried. I felt even worse. I had to tell her everything, I couldn't lie to her. She would know without having to read my mind. Best friends just can tell. "Violet what's wrong?" She had seen the distraught expression on my face. I sat down on the bed next to her, resting my hands on my stomach.

"I went to the doctor." I said softly. "I knew that there was something wrong with me and the baby. And they ran some tests. It turns out that I most likely have preeclampsia." More tears spilled out of my eyes.

"Violet, I'm sorry. I know that's not going to make you feel better but I don't know what else to say." She looked genuinely upset and sympathetic.

"It's okay. It's all my fault. I let the stress get to me"

"No, it's not. You didn't ask for this to happen. You've been having a hard time lately."

"I'm his mother! I'm supposed to protect him and keep him safe. He could die from this! I could die!" saying the words made them feel like a reality. I broke down in the sobs that I had been holding in all day. Ally pulled me into a hug.

"Violet, he's going to be okay. He's your baby isn't he? Yours and Iggy's. And by all accounts you and Iggy probably both should have died years ago but you're both still here. He's going to make it through this." she paused for a moment. "He doesn't like it when you cry." I went quiet immediately. Ally was telling me what the baby was thinking after I had badgered her for months and she'd kept tight lipped. Until now.

"Really?" I pulled apart from her, wiping my eyes.

"Yeah, it scares him, especially when you cry like this. He likes it when you laugh. He thinks about you all the time and you are his favourite person in the whole world. He loves you." I gave a wet chuckle and put a hand where he was kicking.

"I love you too baby. We're going to get through this. I promise." That was a promise I didn't know if I could keep but was determined not to break. We sat in silence for a few minutes before I spoke up again.

"You can't tell Iggy about this."

"Vi, it's his baby too." I knew that. And he was so excited for his son; I couldn't take that away from him.

"I just can't. Not til I know if I have it for sure, which will be tomorrow. He's so worried about the court trial, even if he isn't acting it, but looking forward to the baby is getting him through it. I want to let him have one more day thinking that everything's okay."

"You should tell him, it might make you feel better."

"It wouldn't. I'm not supposed to be stressing about things and if I tell him, he'll stress about it and his stress will make me stress more. Please don't say anything to the others. I need to deal with this on my own." I heard the front door open downstairs. "Tell them I'm asleep." Ally nodded and left the room. I lay down on the bed on my side, facing the window. I was tired enough that I actually fell asleep, despite everything that was buzzing around my head.

*~*~*~*~*

I woke up in a cold sweat an hour later. It took me a moment to realise that it had only been a dream and I was back in my bedroom and not in the hospital. I let out a sob of relief when I felt the baby kick. He was still alive. My mind flicked back to the dream. The baby coming out silent, the doctors trying to resuscitate him, them pronouncing he was dead, the cold, pale dead baby in my arms, running from the room screaming and being ambushed by the paparazzi. Then I'd woken up. The room was dark, Iggy had obviously been in here, shutting the curtains and covering me with a blanket, to help me sleep.

I went into the bathroom and looked in the mirror. My hair was a mess from tossing and turning, my face was as white a sheet except for my eyes which were red and puffy from crying. I cleaned myself up as best I could, trying to look as normal as possible. I opened the curtains and made the bed. I went downstairs and into the lounge. The whole flock was lounge about on the couches or the floor, talking and laughing, while Lily and Shadow played with the blocks. I felt so disconnected from them, like I was living in a whole other world. They were happy and I was dying on the inside. I put on a fake smile and went to sit beside Iggy.

"Hey!" I said cheerfully but it was quite obvious that it was forced. Iggy gave me a scrutinising look.

"Are you alright? You look like you've seen a ghost." There was a pang of sadness when I realised how real that was.

"Hmm really?" I tried to act nonchalantly but failed.

"Yeah, you're really pale."

"Well, I feel fine. Catching up on sleep made me feel so much better. How was baseball? Did you teach Lily to hit the ball?" Iggy grinned with pride and launched into detail about the game. I listened nodding and smiling but on the inside I was falling to pieces.


	10. The meaning of family

**Chapter Ten- The meaning of Family**

I was lying in bed early the next morning, it was still dark outside. I rolled over and saw Iggy's sleeping face. He was snoring slightly but there was a gentle smile on his face. His hand was reached out towards me, like he had fallen asleep holding my hand. I reached out to fluff up his hair and then I lay there watching him sleep.

"You're watching me sleep." He muttered suddenly without opening his eyes. It made me jump slightly. Iggy smiled and opened his eyes. "Do you know that makes you a creepy stalker?"

"I'm not a creepy stalker." I defended myself. Iggy leaned over to kiss me on the forehead. I rested my head on his chest.

"So today..." He trailed off.

"Mmm." I sighed. I really didn't want to talk about this. Iggy noticed and we just lay in silence holding onto each other. Around half an hour later a blonde head peeked around the door, when Lily saw that we were both awake, she ran into the room and jumped up on Iggy's side of the bed.

"Morning." She yawned, her face illuminated by the first few rays of sunlight. She snuggled into Iggy's other side. "It's really early isn't it?"

"Yeah, a bit too early for you to be awake." Iggy responded.

"You guys are awake." Iggy laughed quietly.

"I suppose you both want breakfast."

"Yes, we do." Lily and I answered in unison. Iggy got out of bed and Lily crawled up next to me, as he left the room.

"I love you Mummy." She said hugging my arm. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes. Stupid hormones.

"Love you too baby. No matter what." Lily saw that I was crying and looked worried. Her brow furrowed.

"What's wrong Mummy? Why are you crying?"

"No reason, Mummy and Daddy just have a big day today. I need you to be a very good girl for Uncle Jacob and Aunty Ally today."

"I will Mummy. I always am a good girl."

"I know. Come on lets go see what Daddy's doing for breakfast." We both got out of bed. Lily grabbed my hand as we walked down to the dining room. We both sat at the table side by side as Iggy came out with our breakfast and his own. As we ate together, I enjoyed the family time, Lily and Iggy being happy. After we'd finished eating Lily went off to dress her dolls and brush their hair. Iggy and I took the plates into the kitchen. As he loaded them into the dishwasher I sat on one of the breakfast bar stools.

"I guess you're not looking forward to today?" Iggy asked quietly.

"No, not in the slightest." I sighed, resting my head on the bench top.

"Neither am I, but no matter the result today I will make sure that they leave us alone. I'll do whatever it takes." I got off the stool and went across the room as fast as I could. I grabbed Iggy behind the neck and pulled him down so I could kiss him. He seemed surprised but he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me as close as he could.

"I thought there was no mushy stuff in your kitchen." Jacob said from behind us. We broke apart and saw he and Ally standing in the doorway.

"Exactly, it's _my _kitchen. I can do what I like in it." Iggy said smugly. He had his hands resting on my stomach and as the baby kicked, his smile grew. I couldn't watch it without wanting to cry.

"I should start getting ready." I mumbled quietly, leaving the room. Iggy followed me. We both had a shower and got dressed. I wore a short, black, sleeveless dress with a pleat over the (extremely large) stomach. When I came out of the bathroom after doing my hair and makeup, Iggy was doing up his tie.

"Here let me." I went over to him and did it up for him. I straightened the jacket of his suit too.

"Thanks dear." He kissed the top of my head. "Are you ready for this?" he asked gently.

"No." I whimpered. I was crying again.

"Hey, it's okay, shh." Iggy pulled me into a hug. "We're going to be fine. I'll always protect you." I knew he always would, but there were things that even Iggy's safe arms couldn't protect me from, I knew that now. I started crying even harder.

"I just can't s-s-seem to stop crying. It's h-h-horrible" I sobbed, it was the truth but there were reasons behind it.

"I know, but we've been going through some real bad crap lately so I think you're allowed. Plus all your hormones."

"Yeah, I guess."

"We'd better get going then." I didn't want to leave home and this sort of peace that I had here. But I nodded because it was what I had to do.

"I need to go to the bathroom. We'll leave after that." I started walking towards our bathroom.

"Violet." Iggy said. I turned around.

"Yeah?"

"You look beautiful." I smiled at him and went into our ensuite. When I finished in the bathroom I went into the lounge to find all the others sitting on the couches with Lily sitting on Iggy's knee. I sat beside them.

"Daddy, did you know that Mummy was crying this morning. She seemed sad. Poor mummy." Lily said as she patted my shoulder.

"Mummy's okay princess. Don't worry." Iggy told her. But from the concerned look he gave me he thought differently.

"We'll be back tonight. You'll be okay right?" She nodded.

"I will."

"Good girl, well we need to head off now so goodbye baby. Love you." Iggy said hugging Lily and kissing her head. She hugged him back.

"Love you too daddy. And you Mummy." She crawled on to my lap and hugged me. I hugged her tightly.

"Goodbye darling, I love you. I'll call you if I can." I put her down on the couch and stood up with great effort. Iggy got up too. Ally came over and hugged me awkwardly because of my big stomach.

"It'll be okay." She said. All I could do was nod because I didn't know if she was right. Iggy held my hand as we walked out the door and into the car.

"Are you okay? You look pale." He asked as he started driving. We were going to my mom's house to change cars and get security.

"I'm fine. I'm just scared."

"Of what?"

"If they don't do anything. About the paparazzi. I'm not raising my daughter and son in a place where there every move is watched. It's not right. It isn't fair to them. We'll have to leave, go somewhere, where they won't find us. For good this time. I don't want to leave because I've been happier than ever here. But when it comes to my children, there's nothing I won't do to keep them safe." The baby kicked to accentuate my point. I rubbed the spot lightly.

"Okay, I'm with you, no matter what." He said. I smiled at him. He smiled back. I rested my head against his shoulder. "We're going to be okay."

"I'm okay if I've got you."

*~*~*~*~*~*

We were in the back of a dark limousine that had tinted windows, with my mom and my step-dad. Iggy was holding my hand tightly. There were two security guards as well.

"Are you guys all clear on the plan." The first bodyguard, Norman, inquired. We nodded. The car slowed to a halt; through the tinted windows I could see the flashing lights of cameras.

"Ready to go Mrs Ride." The second body guard, Kyle, asked me.

"Let's get this over with." I sighed. Norman opened the door.

"Move, get out of the way!" he yelled at the reporters jostling them way. Iggy went next and I followed. Kyle was behind me and my Mum and Peter behind them.

"Hey Violet, boy or girl?" one of the reporters asked my grabbing my arm. Iggy spun around.

"Keep your dirty hands off my wife!" He growled and pushed him off me. After that he kept to the side of me and got Kyle to be on the other side. Norman was in front, they formed a tight circle around me. We pushed and shoved our way through them. After what seemed like a mile we made our way up the stairs and into a little atrium.

"Vultures." Iggy snarled looking back out the glass door.

"Okay should we head down to the courtroom?" Peter said.

"I guess. Do you want to Violet?" Iggy asked.

"Bathroom first." I muttered

"Again? That must be like the third time this morning." Iggy exclaimed. I glared at him. "Let's go." I got led down a long corridor to the bathroom. I ducked inside quickly while the others waited outside.

"Better?" Iggy asked as I emerged.

"Yes for now." I said. He put an arm around my waist and we walked to the courtroom. Iggy's arm tightened around me as we walked in. I saw his parents talking to a lawyer who had his back to us. Peter beckoned to us from a table.

"You two are sitting at that table up those stairs. Supposedly it's to keep you safe but I'm guessing it's just so the TV crew can film you better. I'll be down here with your other lawyers and Ara will be in the gallery. There will be security at the bottom of the stairs." He told us.

"Okay." Iggy said hesitantly. My Mum hugged us both.

"Good luck. I'll talk to you at the recess. I've gotta go get a seat." She sat on a bench near the front. Then the Griffiths's lawyer turned around. It was my father. I stared open mouthed. Iggy had a similar expression. The three of them saw us and walked over.

"Violet, James, how are you?" Reginald greeted us with a smarmy smile. He made me sick. I just glared back.

"It's Iggy." Iggy said through gritted teeth. He ignored this.

"All of this is silly isn't it? This stress can't be good for my grandchild. Why don't we make an out of court settlement and maybe discuss the possibility of a few interviews. It could make you a lot of money. A few photos and you will earn millions." I gave him my best are _you kidding me_ look and turned on my heel. I angrily strode up stairs.

"I can't believe him!" I ranted.

"I can. If he got us to do that and convinced us to let him handle everything, he'd get a cut of the money." Iggy said sullenly.

"All rise for the honourable Judge Purell." The bailiff called. Everyone in the court stood as the judge walked in. She took her seat at judge's bench.

"Please be seated. Bailiff is that our first case?"

"Yes your honour. Our first case is Ride Vs Griffiths and the Media."

"Very well is the prosecution ready?"

"Yes your honour." Peter said.

"Is the defence ready?"

"Yes your honour." Reginald smirked.

"Very well, the prosecution may begin their opening statements." Peter stood up and walked out into the centre of the room.

"Ladies, and gentlemen of the jury, I want you to consider exactly what the defence wants. They want to pretty much let a small girl, who is only two years old and a child who is not even born yet to have their entire lives displayed for the world to see. Who in the world would want that? Mr and Mrs Ride want their children to have the most normal life as possible, the life that neither of them had.

"Iggy Ride was taken from his parents at four and half months old and taken to a branch of Itexicon, a company that genetically modifies living creatures. Iggy had Avian DNA grafted into him within weeks after being taken from his family. He was kept in captivity for ten years during which time he had terrible torture inflicted on him by the scientists at the school including the total loss of his vision in an experiment." And so on. The rest of the speech talked about our lives and how we had been affected by the media intruding on our life. I really wasn't paying all that much attention.

My father's speech was a complete load of crap comparing us to celebrities. Then it was time for the witnesses, our team came up with Dr Lodani and other people we knew. Iggy was the last witness before we took a break for lunch.

"I would now like to call Iggy James Ride to the stand." Iggy stood up and walked down the stairs. He sat down at the witness desk. I saw him flick a worried glance up to where I was sitting. I gave him a small smile back, which he returned.

"Mr Ride do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?" The bailiff asked him.

"I do." Iggy replied. The bailiff sat down and Peter stood up and started pacing in front of Iggy.

"Mr Ride, your daughter was first put in the media spotlight a year and a half ago is that right?"

"Yeah, she was three months old."

"What kind of effect did it have on you, your wife and daughter?"

"We left our home for a few months because we were afraid of people knowing us where ever we went. Violet was afraid to take Lily out in public because people would take photos of her and stuff like that."

"And how about this time? When the more recent photo's started appearing?"

"It was worse because they were all taken within our own property. I mean there are people taking photos of my family in our own home. It was a complete invasion of privacy. We couldn't do anything without the whole world knowing."

"I can imagine, how do you think it would affect your family if it continued?"

"I don't like to think about that, because it would change our whole lives. But eventually it would mean us having us to move and going into hiding. It would mean us leaving our family and friends."

"What health affects has it had?"

"It's stressing us out. Violet is pregnant and I know that it can't be helping her and the baby." I looked down at my stomach and put my hand on it. No it wasn't helping. Peter asked Iggy a few more questions before saying he had no more questions. Then it was Reginald's turn.

"Mr Ride is it true that you found your parents when you were fourteen." He asked Iggy with a fake smile.

"Yes." Iggy said through gritted teeth.

"And then you left your loving parents just a few days later. Leaving them heart-broken."

"Yes, but they were trying to make money out of me."

"Really? Do you think they were only trying to make money to support your future?"

"No, they wanted the money for their own purposes."

"Did you ever ask them this?"

"No, but..."

"So are you saying you just assumed that they were using you?"

"Look, I knew that they were doing it. I overheard them talking about how they were going to buy a beach house in Florida with the money. I know that when I became a father all I ever wanted for my daughter to be safe and happy. I want her to have a proper childhood like Violet and I never had. She became my world and to see her being shown to the world as some sort of freak show, makes me think that maybe I'm not protecting her enough." His speech was so moving. I didn't know he was going to say anything like that. It brought tears to my eyes. Reginald look taken aback for the first time, be paused for a minute before grinning sinisterly. He obviously had something awful planned next.

"Very touching. So your daughter was born on the seventh of September."

"Yes..." Iggy said unsurely. I was worried about this too.

"And you and Violet got married on the twentieth of July of the same year?"

"We did."

"So therefore your daughter was conceived out of wed-lock. And from what I've been hearing, it was an unplanned pregnancy. A mistake." my mouth fell open with shock. Iggy had a look of horror and anger on his face.

"My daughter is not a mistake. Sure she may not have been planned but Violet and I have never ever regretted having her!" He said obviously seething with anger.

"So you had shot gun wedding. You only married for Lily's sake."

"No. I love Violet. We wouldn't have gotten married if we weren't ready to. It just seemed like the right time to do it."

"No further questions." Reginald smirked sitting down. Iggy came back up to where I was sitting.

"I hate your father." He said sitting down. I reached over and grabbed his hand.

"I know me too." the court was dismissed and we went into a private room for a catered lunch. I didn't feel like eating. I picked at a sandwich.

"Honey, you need to eat." Iggy said pushing more food over to me.

"I'm not hungry." I mumbled.

"Are you okay?" he said sounding troubled.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just need some air."

"Okay, I'll come with you."

"No, stay and have lunch. I'll be alright." I kissed him on the check and left the room. I walked up a long hallway. I was thinking about calling home to see how Lily was. I dialled home on my cell phone and got no answer. They must've been at the flock's house. I was about to call them when I heard someone behind me.

"Ah, hello Violet, dear." Reginald greeted me with a smarmy smile.

"Piss off." I grumbled.

"You know, your mother was a right slut, you shouldn't let her near my grandchildren sweet pea." He said moving to touch my stomach. I slapped his hand.

"And what, let you exploit them for your own financial gain."

"No, yours too."

"I would never use my children to make money. I would rather be poor with happy, healthy, children than rolling in money with children who have to grow up with their every moved watched. I'm not that sort of mother." A woman and a teenage girl of about sixteen came up behind him.

"Violet, I would like you to meet my wife and daughter, Vanessa." They both looked down their noses at me. "Come on, let's go find some lunch, she's not worth it." Reginald and his wife went off but Vanessa stayed and started staring me down.

"So you're the daughter he never wanted." She said snobbishly to me. "I can see why he got rid of you." So she knew what he had done to me and still loved him, the spoiled brat that she was.

"If you know all about that, how can you even stand to call him your father? Is it the money he gives you, how much he spoils you!" I retorted getting angry.

"Because he actually loves me unlike you, you little slut. You're obviously easy."

"Easy... oh right because a married woman with a daughter that she loves and a baby that she would do anything to protect is easy. Anyway, isn't that a bit rich coming from you?"

"I'm not the one with two kids, barely a year apart."

"It's two years and you wouldn't know anything about being a mother. Hey, is your mum a woman or a Barbie doll?"

"She's more of a woman that your mum ever was."

"At least my mum had the guts to leave him. I would bet everything I own that he has something on the side."

"My mum keeps him plenty satisfied for your information."

"You listen?! I guess someone has issues!"

"No! I'm too busy myself."

"Let me guess, you're the typical high school cheerleader slut?"

"So what if I am? You're just jealous. Admit it; you spent your whole pathetic childhood wishing you were living my life." This was true. When I was really young, before I knew who my parents were, before I even knew about my brother, I used to imagine that my parents would both be these amazing people who one day would come and bust me out of the school and beat up all the white coats. They'd take me away and three of us would live happily ever after. That fantasy got more and more distant as I got older, but until I found out what I thought was the truth, I still held onto a little bit of hope.

"That maybe true, but as I found out who my father truly was and what he had done, I never had felt so angry and betrayed in my life. And that's saying something." I turned and walked away from her. As soon as I was out of her sight I pulled out my cell phone and called the flock's house.

"Hello?" Fang answered.

"He has another daughter." I told him angrily.

"What do you mean?"

"Our Father." I nearly gagged on the word. He was far from being a father to me. "He's got this daughter; she's spoiled and bitchy and hasn't been given away to insane scientist."

"That bastard. He's disgusting. I saw what he was asking Ig. So, you met this girl?"

"I kinda got into an argument with her, she called me a slut."

"How are we related to these people? Hold on," I heard Fang talking to someone on his end of the line. "Lily wants to talk to you. I'll put her on. Good luck for the trial." I started heading back in the direction of where Iggy was. He'd want to talk to her too.

"Hi Mummy!" Lily said brightly and I immediately felt a bit better. "I saw you on TV and daddy too."

"Did you really?"

"Yup, it was funny."

"What have you been doing today?"

"Um Uncle Fang and I played Candy land, I've been having fun." I went into the room and sat down next Iggy again

"I bet you have. Hey I'm missing you."

"I miss you too Mummy."

"Do you want to speak to daddy?" Iggy looked at me eagerly wanting to speak to his little princess.

"Yes, I do!"

"Okay, I'll pass you over to him, bye baby, I love you."

"Love you too mummy." I handed Iggy the phone. He took it and held it up to his ear.

"Hey baby girl how are you... that's good... I'm alright... no I don't believe you... I just don't think Uncle Fang would play Candy Land... He did... Oh wow."

"We're heading back into the court room soon." My mom told us.

"Okay you make sure you do give him a make over... and take pictures... I've got to go princess but I'll see you tonight bye." He hung up and passed the phone to me. I turned it off and put it in my bag. We headed back to the courtroom.

"I'm nervous." I confessed to Iggy as we walked up the stairs to our little box.

"You'll do fine. When your dick faced dad asks you questions just let him have it. Take out those pregnancy hormones, which I know you've got, on him." We sat down and waited for the judge to walk in.

"Order in the court." The judge said. "We now resume the session of Ride Vs Griffiths and the media. The prosecution has the floor."

"I would now like to call Violet Arabella Ride to take the stand." As I stood up I felt a gush of warm liquid between my legs. I looked down. My waters had broken all over my $600 Louis Vuitton shoes.__


	11. So small

**Chapter Eleven- So small**

I looked down in horror at the puddle I was now standing in. Iggy looked at me then saw the puddle.

"Fuck." He said. I felt like I was going to pass out. It was five weeks too early. My legs were shaking.

"Iggy." I groaned.

"Okay, okay, we need to get to the hospital."

"The hospital." I said faintly.

"I know sweetie, but we need to get you and the baby medical care. We need to make sure your both okay. If he's coming now there could be something wrong." I nodded weakly. Iggy put an arm around me and half carried me down the stairs. I kept one hand on each side of my stomach and tried to control my breathing.

"Mr Ride can you take your seat please! And Mrs Ride please sit at the witness table." The bailiff said sternly.

"No I can't." Iggy said angrily.

"Mr Ride, please take your seat." The bailiff stood up from his desk and moved towards us. He stood between us and the way out

"Listen buddy, if your wife was going into fucking premature labour would you want to take your seat or would you want to get her to a hospital! Now get out of my way dickhead!" as soon as Iggy finished his little tirade my first contraction hit. I doubled over moaning in pain, falling out of Iggy's grip. I grabbed onto his shirt and he pulled me upright. I could see the cameras flashing.

"They can't leave, Violet is due on the stand, they can't leave until questioning is finished." My father called out. Iggy glared at him.

"This trial is suspended for thirty days." The judge decreed. The bailiff moved out of our way. Iggy swung me up into his arms and carried me out of the courtroom. He started running towards the front doors.

"Wait! The paparazzi." I shrieked. Iggy stopped

"Oh right, um... I'll put you here for a minute" he put me on a leather couch. "And I'll... call the driver and ask him to meet us around the back."

"Call Dr Lodani too."

"Okay, just hold on. It will be fine." He said this nervously so it wasn't very convincing. As he walked away to a quieter place to make the phone calls I tried to stop myself from hyperventilating. Why was this happening? I had done everything right to make my baby boy healthy. But I had failed as a mother. I felt tears spill over onto my cheeks. I buried my face in my hands and started sobbing. Then I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Come on Violet. We need to save our boy." Iggy said gently hauling me to my feet. He led me down the corridors to a small nondescript door. As he started to open it I groaned loudly.

"Ow, it's another one they shouldn't be coming this fast!" I cried through the pain.

"It's okay, breathe, breathe." Iggy soothed. I took in shaking breaths. "Good girl, you're doing fine." I leaned against him as he moved into the car.

"Get to the nearest hospital and quickly." Iggy instructed the driver. The driver speed off out onto the main road. En route to the hospital the contractions came thick and fast. They were one minute apart by the time I was getting lifted onto a bed.

"Violet you are in a severe amount of distress and that isn't helping things. I think we're going to get you a caesarean. I'm just going to check how dilated you are."

"Okay," I gasped. Iggy rubbed my hand. I lay back and let Dr Lodani do her thing.

"Oh," she said sound surprised.

"Don't say 'oh' like that! That makes me think that there is something wrong!" I shouted.

"Violet, you're 10 centimetres dilated and the baby's head is crowning. We're ready to go, there's no time to get you prepped for surgery. This baby is coming now. Get ready to push." Dr Lodani said. Another contraction hit. I screamed but didn't push.

"I can't do it, I'm not ready." I groaned.

"Violet, look at me," Iggy said. I looked up into his blue eyes. "You need to have the baby now, I know it's not ideal but you have to get him out here so they can see if anything is wrong. You have to do this and I know you can. Stop fighting it." I nodded and gripped his hand. "Okay, I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere."

I pushed still holding onto Iggy's hand. I gritted my teeth and let out a moan. It hurt so much.

"That's good Violet!" Iggy encouraged. I could tell that he was trying to stay strong but on the inside he was dying with worry. "Keep pushing! You can do this!"

"Ow!" I panted. I couldn't kick the feeling that I was doing this for nothing, that he was going to come out dead or he'd stop breathing and they'd have to resuscitate him and then it wouldn't work. That hurt more than the pain. I squeezed Iggy's hand harder. Sensing I needed support Iggy put his other arm around my shoulder, holding me. I pushed again, screaming from the pain. An image of the baby boy that I had pictured in my mind for the past few months flashed through my mind. I put everything I had into pushing, working harder at than I had ever worked at anything, besides giving birth the first time. Iggy and the image of the baby in my mind got me through it. After what felt like hours of pushing, but was only minutes in reality, Dr Lodani said something that made me feel a tiny bit better.

"One more should do it, Violet. You've done amazingly well." I pushed, using every ounce of strength I had left; I didn't know where I was getting it from. Suddenly, he was out. There was a split second where the room was silent. I felt Iggy's arm tense around me and my heart turned to ice. Then a single sound made it melt. A cry pierced the silence. I looked to where Dr Lodani was holding up my little boy, tilting him slightly so I could see his face. He was the tiniest baby I had ever seen. He was crying nosily and all I wanted to do was comfort him. He was so beautiful and took my breath away.

"Oh my god." I choked out, feeling tears run down my face. I looked up at Iggy for second, a single tear running down his face. He was smiling widely, looking awed.

"He's okay." Iggy whispered, making eye contact with me. I saw the complete happiness and pride in his eyes. He ran his long fingers through my sweat-drenched hair. "I'm proud of you. You did it." he leant down and kissed me softly on the lips. I relaxed into his arms.

"Iggy, would you like to cut the cord?" Dr Lodani asked Iggy, who nodded. He lowered me gently onto pillows and went over to our son, wiping his tear away with his sleeve. I watched as he cut the cord proudly, all the while smiling down at the baby, who was still crying. They wrapped him up in blankets and handed him to Iggy.

"Hey there kid." Iggy said softly sounding amazed. He came over to me cradling the crying baby. "Why don't you go see your mama?" He handed him over as I eagerly held my arms out to take the wailing baby. I was overwhelmed when I saw him. Even with his face all scrunched up; I could see Iggy's features replicated on his face. He had his strawberry-blond hair. Everything was Iggy's except for his nose which looked like a smaller version of mine.

"Hi baby," I squeaked still crying. The baby stopped crying and opened his eyes. He gave me a look of almost recognition, which reminded me of the one that Iggy had given me when he woke up and saw me for the first time. He knew my voice. "He knows who I am." I whispered to Iggy, who was watching the two of us. I never took my eyes off the baby.

"Of course he does. You carried him for ni-eight months. He doesn't just know you, he adores you. Did you see how he stopped crying when you spoke to him?"

"I love you baby. Thanks for staying alive." I told my son. He was watching Iggy and I. He seemed to recognise Iggy now too. "He's so tiny." I mumbled. I pulled aside his the blanket slightly so I could take a look at his wings and was happy to find that they were like Iggy's too. He was truly his father's son.

"He's only four and half pounds." Iggy told me. "The doctor told me. It doesn't matter though; he's going to grow up. He'll still make the football team." Iggy joked. "Do you know what you want us to call him?"

"I've known what I've wanted to call him for weeks. Lucas. If your okay with that?"

"Of course I am."

"Luke for short."

"It suits him."

*~*~*~*~*~*

A little while later I was settled into a room. It was quite bright and there was peeling paint on the walls but luckily I had the room to myself because I had to stay here for a couple of days longer than expected. I was relaxing back on a pile of pillows feeding Luke, who despite his size had quite the apatite. When he finally decided he'd had enough, I passed him to Iggy. Iggy patted him lightly on the back, burping him.

"So, um, are we going to give a middle name?" Iggy looked hopeful. I gave a tired laugh.

"Yes, I have an idea for that."

"What is it?"

"I was thinking I'd name him after, the most handsome, sweetest, funniest guy I know. And he's the baby's father so it kinda makes sense." Iggy grinned widely.

"Lucas Iggy Ride. Sounds like the name of a great football player." I rolled my eyes at him. Iggy looked down at his son proudly. Luke had very determined face on as he tried to kick his feet free of the baby blue blanket that he was wrapped tightly in. Once he managed to break his tiny foot through the blanket, Iggy wrapped him up again. Luke gave Iggy a disgruntled look, and then looked at me with his wide blue eyes.

"Can I hold him?" I asked.

"Of course. Here you go." Iggy said handing Luke back to me.

"Come here baby." I cooed to him. "I love you. You're so cute." I kissed his forehead. Iggy relaxed back in his chair and appeared to be thinking about something.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He asked quietly. I knew exactly what he was talking about. He didn't sound angry, just worried and curious.

"I didn't want to scare you until I knew for sure. Then I was going to tell you everything, I just didn't anticipate this happening. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, I understand. The main thing is that you're okay and we have our healthy, happy boy." Iggy leaned over to kiss me on the forehead. He sat on the edge of the bed and we watched Luke together. After we sat there for a while, I spoke up.

"Hey Ig?"

"Yeah honey?"

"Can you go get the flock, I'm pretty sure they'll be in the waiting room. I think they might be dying with worry."

"Sure thing." Iggy kissed me quickly and ruffled Luke's hair lightly. He got up and left the room, giving me a bright smile on the way out. I turned my attention back to Luke. He watched me seemingly happy.

"A little heads up for you, your family is about the strangest group of people that I've ever met. They're all so different that you couldn't understand how they'd all get along. But they will all love you no matter what, and I can tell that they're looking forward to meeting you. Your sister the most, even if she doesn't show it." I knew that he didn't understand a word of that but he seemed to like the sound of my voice.

There was so much potential in him, in those innocent looking crystal blue eyes. He was worth every little bit of pain this pregnancy and labour had caused. I looked up as the door started to open and I braced myself for what was about to come.


	12. Sleepless nights

**Chapter Twelve- Sleepless nights**

Iggy was the first through the door, he was carrying Lily. The others came in after them. They all looked shocked at how small Luke was. I noticed, with delight, that they had my hospital bag with them.

"Is that him?" Lily asked him. "Is that Luke?"

"Yup, that's your brother." Iggy told her grinning.

"Oh, he's really little." She commented looking Luke curiously. Iggy came over and sat on the bed with Lily on his lap. Lily came closer to me and hovered over Luke. They watched each other, as if they weren't quite sure what to think of each other. Then she smiled slightly. "He looks like daddy, but that's weird because daddy is really tall but Luke is little."

"He's probably going to grow up to be as tall as daddy is. They are so alike."

"See, he's my mini-me!" Iggy bragged proudly to the flock. The guys all started clapping him on the back in congratulations, which I didn't understand. I mean, I did the hard work, all Iggy did was get laid. The girls came and gave me one armed hugs.

"He's so cute, even if he does look like Iggy." Nudge babbled. The other girls nodded in agreement. Well, I for one thought Iggy was cute. I caught his eye from where he was talking to the guys. We exchanged quick smiles before turning our attention back to the conversations. Then the flock dished out the presents that they had brought for Luke. He got blankets, clothes and toys but his favourite present was from Ally and Jacob. It was a giant baby blue teddy bear, with really soft fur and black bow around its neck. Luke had reached out for it when they gave it to him and when Iggy had moved it out of Luke's line of vision; he started crying until Iggy put it back where he could see it.

While all this was happening, Lily had jumped off the bed and was standing in the corner looking dejected. She was used to getting all our attention and not having to share it with anyone. I was about to try comfort her when I saw Shadow shuffle over to her and give her a flower. Lily grinned and hugged him tightly, giving him a light peck on the cheek. Unfortunately Iggy saw this whole exchange and his over protectiveness flared. I needed to do something

"Hey Lily, do you want to hold your little brother?"Lily's eyes brightened up and she grinned. I got her to sit in a chair that was by my bedside and put a pillow where Luke's head would go. I carefully put Luke into her arms. She held onto him tightly.

"He's not that bad." Lily said slowly as Luke lay placidly in her arms. He seemed to be quite relaxed when he saw that she and I had the same eyes, he found something familiar in her face. "But I would still like a sister."

"We'll have to see about that." I laughed and Lily looked hopeful. When she decided she'd had enough of holding of Luke, he got passed around the room. Luckily he didn't kick up much of a fuss. Out of the whole flock Ally appeared to be his favourite; he was very relaxed when she was holding him. But, although I hate to brag, he seemed happiest when he came back into my arms. Total mama's boy.

When I had seen how much Luke liked Ally, it made me really sure of something that I was already pretty definite on.

"Hey, Ally and Jacob can I ask you guys something?" I made sure that my thoughts didn't give anything away. This had to be a surprise. They both came to my bedside. Iggy came and sat closer to me, knowing what I was going to ask. And although he acted annoyed by it, I knew he agreed with me

"There's been something I've- we've wanted to ask you guys for a while. Would you guys like to be Luke's godparents? I couldn't think of anyone better." I waited for their answer. They were obviously discussing it in their minds.

"We'd love to." Ally said as they both smiled. I beamed at them while Iggy groaned.

"Why Violet, why?" He whined.

"Stop being such a drama queen Iggy." Ally stated. "I know you're happy about it." Iggy went red and looked up at the ceiling. I snorted with laughter and looked down at Luke. He looked very sleepy and he yawned, his tiny mouth forming an 'o'. He was so adorable. He snuggled more into my chest and fell asleep. Everyone just hung around talking in low voices so they wouldn't wake him. Lily crawled up on to my bed beside me, and was soon fast asleep also. Someone obviously missed nap time.

I watched my two sleeping babies happily, everything had turned out perfectly. Watching them both made me feel tired. I lay awake all night worrying that I wouldn't get to enjoy this and of course an extremely intense labour. That would make anyone tired. Since I couldn't suck energy out of the wall, I would have to settle for good old fashioned sleep. I shut my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

I woke up to a tiny voice crying.

"Shh, Luke. You don't want to wake mama up, do you?" Iggy was walking around the room, bouncing Luke trying to get him to stop crying. Lily was still asleep at my side. We were the only ones in the room, the flock had all gone.

"Give him here." I said sleepily, letting a yawn escape, Iggy turn to look at me, startled.

"Sorry, I was trying to get him to stop." He apologised.

"It's ok. He's probably hungry. You take Lily and I'll feed him." Iggy carefully placed Luke in my arms and scooped Lily up, going to sit on a chair underneath the window. Luke stopped crying as soon as I started feeding him. My boy loved his food. After he was fed, I lay him down in the cot at the end of my bed, while I got changed out of the hospital gown that I had been wearing, as I didn't have my bag with me. But now I did, so, I got changed into my own pyjamas which were a lot more comfortable.

"So, where's the flock?" I asked getting back into bed.

"They went off to get food."

"Why didn't you go with them?" I asked. He needed to take care of himself.

"I didn't want to leave you."

"Iggy..." I began disapprovingly.

"I'll go get something when Lily wakes up and take her with Me." he promised, trying to stop my worrying. It was around dinnertime, when was I going to get my plate of crappy hospital food? I was hungry. There was a knock on the door and an orderly put a thing of food on a table near my bad, then left. I ate a couple of forkfuls feeling disgusted. I was used to Iggy's near gourmet food and this just didn't cut it. Luckily the flock came in giving me an excuse to stop eating. Lily woke up, yawning, when she heard them come in.

"Here, I got you some real food." Ally said handing it to me.

"Thank you so much. You're a lifesaver!" I exclaimed, starting to eat. It was so good compared to the hospital food.

"What are friends for?" I noticed that even though Lily was awake and the flock was here to keep me company Iggy hadn't gone to get dinner.

"Iggy, go eat." I instructed, between mouthfuls of food.

"But... but... but..." Iggy was running out of excuses. I was fine and eating and Luke was happily lying in his cot watching his teddy.

"I'm okay. Lily needs dinner and so do you." With a sigh he stood up and left taking Lily with him. He's too over-protective and stubborn for his own good.

"You'll be okay won't you?" Iggy asked anxiously as he was about to leave the hospital for the night. As the father of the baby, he was allowed to stay overnight but I wanted him to be at home with Lily. She needed at least one of her parents. The flock had all already gone home.

"Yes, I will. Go home and go to bed." Iggy looked tired. It had been a very full-on day.

"Call me if you need me. Or text me if you just want to talk. I'll be here first thing in the morning." He gave Luke a final cuddle. "Bye, be good for your mother. Love you." He gently put Luke back in his cot and covered him with blanket in addition to the ones he was already wrapped in. Lily hugged me around the neck.

"Bye mummy. See you tomorrow. I love you." I hugged her back and kissed her on the top her head.

"Love you too. Have a good sleep sweetheart." Lily smiled and then went over to Luke's cot pausing for a moment. Then she swooped down and gave Luke a small kiss on the forehead.

"Uh, bye Luke. Don't be annoying." she told him and then went over to Iggy, he crouched down to pick her up and came over to me.

"I love you." He said before kissing me briefly.

"I love you too. Bye." Iggy and Lily left the room, shutting the door behind them. I looked over at Luke. He was fast asleep, covered in a blue blanket with a green car on it that Max and Fang had gotten him. His big blue teddy was sitting at the end of his cot, by his feet. He'd see it when he woke up. I switched the light out, feeling incredibly happy as I fell into a peaceful sleep.

Or not so peaceful. Luke woke up every couple of hours, needing to be fed, changed or just simply needing a hug. It was slightly annoying when I wanted nothing more than to sleep. But I did it without complaint. My baby needed me. One thing that amazed me was how much Luke looked like Iggy, when he was asleep. He had the same, slightly opened mouth and he even made little snorting noises, which reminded me of Ig's snoring.

By eight o'clock the next morning, I had accomplished a few things. Luke was fed and changed, lying happily in my arms. I had been seen by my doctor and my blood pressure going down but she wanted to keep both me and Luke in the hospital for a few more days just to make sure. One of the big risks for Luke was his breathing, his lungs hadn't fully developed when he was born but Dr Lodani said that he was coming along well, just like any other newborn.

Iggy and Lily showed up as I was watching TV, while holding Luke. Iggy kissed me and then took the baby, wanting to spend some time with his son. Lily sat on my lap and watched TV with me. It was happy, quiet family time.

"The flock is coming in about an hour and Emma and Dave texted me and said they'll probably drop in later on. They said to pass on their congratulations, they would have texted you but they weren't sure when you'd be awake." Iggy explained flicking his gaze up from Luke for a minute.

"It'll be nice to see them; I don't think we've seen them since the whole paparazzi thing happened. How was last night without me?"

"I missed you, but someone else visited me during the night." Iggy chuckled and Lily grinned.

"I slept in you and daddy's bed. I thought he'd get lonely without you, so me, Mr Snuggles and teddy went to keep him company." She told me.

"That was sweet of you." I smiled, hugging her. "Someone needs to look after daddy when I'm not there."

"I should be the one asking you how your night went." Iggy said.

"It was alright, I mean he's a newborn baby, he's going to wake up during the night." I tried not to get Iggy worried that I wasn't sleeping enough.

"How much sleep did you get?"

"Five or six hours. It's enough. I've had worse nights." I thought back to the nights at the school or when Iggy had been kidnapped and I'd wake up at various times during the night, screaming my lungs out. Tending to my son's needs was _much _preferable to that.

"Well, I'll be able to help you when you get home. Do you know when that will be?"

"Not for a few days, they want to keep an eye on my blood pressure and Luke's lungs."

"What's wrong with his lungs?" Iggy asked, looking at Luke worriedly.

"Unborn babies' lungs aren't fully developed until the thirty-sixth week of pregnancy. Luke was born at thirty-five weeks so they're just a little concerned. But it's nothing to worry about, Doctor Lodani said he's doing well and his breathing is fine."

"Are you sure." It was Iggy's natural tendency to worry.

"Do you think I'd be sitting here, not doing anything about it, if I wasn't sure he was going to be absolutely fine?"

"I guess not." Iggy sighed knowing that I was almost as big of a worrier as he was. "But I just want to be kept in the loop this time. I can handle it. You don't need to protect me. And I don't want you to have to go through it alone. Please, promise to tell me next time."

"I'm promise." I gave Iggy a reassuring smile, which he returned.

After Lunch, Max and Fang, Ally and Jacob and their kids were visiting. Nudge and Gazzy both had classes at college and Angel was at school but they'd come see us after. Lily and Shadow were playing on the ground with some toys and I was holding Luke, who had just been fed. Iggy's phone buzzed and he laughed as he read the text. He sent a reply then turned to me.

"Emma and Dave are here and on their way up to the room." Iggy told me.

"Cool, what was so funny?" I asked.

"Uh, nothing, just something in the text." Iggy laughed nervously, holding onto his phone tighter. I'd get him cough up after. Just at that moment Dave and Emma walked into the room. Dave was tall and tanned, with short brown hair and Emma was petite and blonde.

"Hey guys!" Dave greeted us and Iggy grinned, happy to be in the presence of his friend.

"Sup man." He responded.

"Hi, you guys know Max and Fang and that's Ally and Jacob. They're Luke's godparents and Ally is my best friend." I informed them smiling.

"Hey, nice to meet you." Dave said friendlily.

"Hello." Emma muttered stiffly. The room felt tense. I was about to speak up when Luke made a very annoyed sounding grunt and started pulling on my shirt with his tiny hand.

"What?" I asked him. "Do you need to be the centre of attention all of the time?" I swear he nodded his head.

"So, Violet talks a lot about you." Ally told Emma awkwardly.

"Yeah you too." Emma replied then muttered something unintelligible.

"Did she say I was a mind-reader too?" Ally retorted. Something in the back of my mind-registered that this was not good, but I couldn't tear my eyes away from my baby. This awkward silence continued on for a few minutes until Ally spoke up.

"Hey Violet, did I tell you about my new jimmy Choos?"

"Jimmy Choos?" Emma asked. They were both shoe fiends. Luke poked his tongue out at me, I giggled at him.

"Who's a cute baby? You are, yes you are." I cooed to Luke, ignoring them so they could keep going on with their chat.

"What kind of Jimmy Choos?" Emma asked.

"Only the best pair from the newest season." Ally responded making Emma gasp.

"But that season isn't even out yet."

"I have connections."

"Ally has more shoes that all of us combined." I said looking up from Luke only for a second.

"You didn't mention that about her." Emma said accusingly. I shrugged.

"Didn't come up."

"How could it not, you know how much I love shoes!" Emma demanded.

"Okay, asking me stuff at the moment is not going to be very helpful to you. I have baby brain."

"Baby brain?"

"Yeah, leftover hormones, excessive tiredness. It's turning my brain into baby loving mush. Ally, you know what I'm talking about right?"

"Yes, yes I do. It's a terrible disease." Ally agreed.

"So Ally, how do you get your shoes before their released?"

"I'm a fashion consultant for all the major shoe company, so I get the shoes before anyone else." They launched into a full on shoe banter that I just tuned out of. I liked shoes but I wasn't as near as obsessive as they both were. I noticed that Iggy and Dave both had their heads out the window, looking down at the throngs of paparazzi and media that had formed out there.

"Dude is that Ryan Seacrest?" Iggy asked.

"I think it is." Dave replied.

"Pretty boy asshole." Iggy muttered. "I bet I could hit him with that jug of water."

"Nah, there's no way you could get him with that."

"Wanna bet?"

"You're on. Twenty bucks?"

"Let's do this thing." Iggy grabbed the jug of water off my bedside table and stuck his head out the window again. I could tell his mark by his and Dave's laughter.

"Look at his face!" Dave snorted.

"Revenge is so sweet. And so is my twenty dollars. Cough. Up." Iggy taunted. I saw Jacob and Fang rolling their eyes at Iggy and Dave but I simply smiled and laughed. I was so glad that everyone was getting along.

"How much stuff did you need?" Iggy exclaimed as he threw some of my stuff into my bag. It was four days later and I had finally been discharged from hospital. I was carefully putting Luke into his car seat. He had just been feed so I was hoping he'd stay happy the whole drive home.

"Well I've been here for five days. I needed all this stuff, besides it's partially Luke's too."

"Yeah, like a quarter of it. I've got everything together though. Ready to go?"

"Yup, the sooner we get out of here the better." I had already signed the papers so I was free to go. Iggy carried my bag and I carried the car seat as we walked out of the room. We went down to the lobby and out into the car park. Iggy unlocked the car and I strapped Luke's car seat in making sure he was securely in. I kissed his forehead and shut his door. I got into the front seat and turned to Iggy.

"Iggy, for the love of god, do not drive like a maniac with the baby in the backseat."

"When do I drive like a maniac?" I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Did you really just ask me that?" Iggy made an annoyed huff as he started up the car. He did drive carefully, for once. My heart swelled with happiness when I saw the house come into view. I hadn't been home in almost a week and now I was here bringing my baby home. Iggy parked the car in the garage smoothly and I hurried out of the seat to see Luke. I pulled his car seat out and saw that he was asleep innocently. Funny how I could never get him to sleep at night but he seemed to fall asleep when Iggy, the scariest driver in the world, was behind the wheel. Iggy brang the bag in and we walked into the house together.

As soon as we opened the door, Lily sprinted in to the room.

"Mummy you're home!" She exclaimed happily. I handed Luke to Iggy and crouched down to hug her

"I've missed being at home with you so much. But you need to be a little bit quieter now. Luke's sleeping." Lily nodded. She had remembered how quiet we had to be when Typa was a newborn.

"Okay." She whispered.

"I'll take him up to bed." Iggy said in a low voice, heading for the stairs. It tugged at my heart whenever I was separated from Luke. But I squashed the feeling and smiled at Lily.

"Mummy, come see my two new dolls. Daddy got me one for hitting the ball when we played baseball and one for having a little brother!" Lily dragged me into the lounge where Ally and Jacob were sitting on the couch watching TV. Shadow was playing on the floor and Typa was on Ally's lap.

"Hey guys!" I greeted them as Lily dragged me into the corner of the room where the doll's house was set up.

"Hi Violet." Ally replied with a smile. "Welcome home."

"Thanks. It's so good to be back here." Iggy walked back into the room with a baby monitor in hand.

"He's still fast asleep." Iggy told me and sat down in a chair balancing the baby monitor on the arm of it. "I'll listen out for him." I nodded and turned my attention back to Lily and her new dolls.

Later that evening, all the kids except Luke were in bed. Iggy and Jacob were off doing their own things, and I was folding up the laundry in the lounge. Ally was sitting on the couch holding Luke, who was holding on to her finger, spending some quality time with her godson.

"You're so handsome." She cooed to him. "All the girls are going to love you. But we're not going to let you be a man whore. No. You won't follow in your father's footsteps." I smiled seeing how happy he was with her.

"Are you still alright holding him? I can take him if you want." I offered even though I still had a pile of laundry to go through.

"No no, it's fine."

"Okay, well I'll just finish up here and then it's bedtime for you my boy." I told Luke. His tiny hand tightened around Ally's finger. He knew that I was going to take him to bed. And that meant that there would be even more resistance when he was older. But he did look really tired; it had been a big day for him, coming home for the first time. I gave him half an hour at the most before he was out like a light.

"Is it weird, that even though I've had the baby, that I'm still having cravings? I really want waffles." I informed Ally, as I folded up a pair of Iggy's jeans and we both laughed.

"Well, that's kind of understandable, since you've been eating nothing but hospital food for the past few days." I sighed happily.

"It's so good to be home. And everything's kind of back to normal. We're still being stalked pretty much but they've given us a little bit of space since Iggy fought back with the water." We chatted as I folded the laundry. Finally I got through it all and took Luke up to bed. I walked into his pastel blue room; the whole nursery was themed blue and white. I changed him at the baby blue and white changing table. I sat on the white rocking chair with the baby blue cushion on it. I fed him so that he'd sleep for longer; he looked so sleepy by the end of it. I knew he was tired. I lifted him into his cot and covered him with the blanket. I leaned over to kiss him on the forehead.

"Good night baby. I love you so much." I tucked him in slightly tighter as his eyes shut. I put the baby monitor on top of Luke's dresser and switched it on. I went to leave the room, taking one final look at my half-asleep baby before shutting the door. I went into the next room to check on Lily. She was fast asleep, hugging onto a soft toy with each arm, looking so adorable. I left the door open and went down stairs out to the garage. Iggy was in his 'explosives room.' it was a little shed-like thing off the garage where Iggy made his bombs, it was the only place in the house where I let him do it.

"I'm going to bed." I announced making him look up from the powder he was adding to a liquid.

"I'll join you. I'm guessing our boy is up at all hours of the night, best to get as much sleep as we can." Iggy started putting all the stuff away.

"That's true." I yawned. "God, I'm exhausted." Iggy and I started walking up to bed, until Iggy got bored of that and lifted me up into his arms. "What are doing?" I demanded trying not to be too loud as to wake the kids up.

"I've missed going to bed at night with you. I haven't had you stealing all the blankets or snuggling up to me for five whole nights. It's the small things like that."

"I missed you too." Iggy leaned down and pushed his lips to mine. In a few minutes we were cuddled up in bed. It felt so amazing to be in my own warm, comfortable bed with my loving husband compared to alone in the stiff hospital bed. I fell asleep with my face buried in Iggy's chest, the way it always should be.

Iggy groaned as Luke's crackly crying came over the baby monitor for the third time that night, waking us both.

"I fed him half an hour ago." I whined, sitting up.

"Maybe it's his nappy, I'll go." Iggy suggested, getting out of bed. He returned a couple of minutes with a still crying Luke. "It wasn't that." he said handing him to me.

"Hi baby." I cooed to him, his crying softened slightly but didn't stop. I tried for about thirty minutes to get him to stop, feeding him, walking around with him, changing him, anything I could think of but nothing worked.

"Is he asleep yet?" Iggy asked, lifting his head up groggily. He had managed to fall asleep despite the noise.

"Yeah Iggy, cause he cries in his sleep." I hissed back. Iggy looked stunned at my outburst and I felt guilty. "Sorry, I'm just so exhausted." I apologised. "I haven't slept properly in days."

"It's okay." Iggy sat up and put a comforting arm around me. "I should be doing more, not sleeping through it. I can take him for a bit." I placed Luke in Iggy's arms as the door opened. Lily shuffled in holding the doll that Iggy had given her when she became a big sister. She climbed up on the bed and out the doll down.

"It's not worth the doll if he's crying all night. You can take them both back." she told him tiredly.

"Sweetie, we can't take him back." She crawled onto my lap and cuddled up to me.

"Yes you can, just put him in the car and take him back to the hospital." She suggested, Iggy's eye lit up and he started getting out of bed.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm taking Luke for a drive. He fell asleep on the way home so he might again. It's a long shot but anything's worth a try."

"His car seat is in his room. Drive carefully." I called after him as he hurried off. He was a man on a mission. I sat there waiting for them to get back, while Lily slept on my lap. Finally I heard footsteps headed in the direction of Luke's room. Over the baby monitor, I heard Iggy putting Luke back to bed. He came into our room looking triumphant.

"He's asleep." Iggy sighed, practically falling into bed.

"Thank god." I put Lily between Iggy and me and lay down myself.

"Are you letting her sleep here tonight?" Iggy whispered, not wanting to wake her.

"Yeah, plus I can't be bothered moving her. Night, love you." The last thing I heard as I fell asleep was.

"I love you too."

"You two look like death warmed up." Ally commented as Iggy and I came down to breakfast the next morning. We both looked as tired as hell, pretty much like any new parents do. Iggy was carrying Lily, who had stayed in our bed all night. Luke had decided to finally fall asleep for an extended period of time around six. Iggy put Lily in her chair and went off to make us breakfast. I sat down next to Lily, yawning. Iggy returned with three plates of toast and took his own seat. We both ate in silence, too tired to talk. I looked over at Iggy for a second and saw that he was resting his head on his hand and he was snoring away.

"Iggy!" I said and his eyes shot open as he sat upright.

"Where's the fire!" He asked groggily, looking around frantically. When he realised he'd simply fallen asleep, all the panic disappeared from his eyes and was replaced with tiredness.

"Daddy?" Lily asked.

"Yeah princess?"

"You promised that we could go to the beach today. See?" Lily jumped out of her chair and ran out of the room. She returned with a calendar and showed it to Iggy. "You promised that me and you would spend some time together before the baby came, just the two of us. But then Luke came early, which was really rude of him. But we're still going to spend time together, right?" Lily looked at Iggy with complete innocence and hopefulness. Iggy sighed looking torn.

"Lily, I know I promised. And we will spend time together but I'm just really tired so can we do it another day." Lily pouted and tears welled in her eyes. I knew that she was acting but I could tell by the look on his face that Iggy was falling for it hook, line and sinker.

"But daddy, I was really looking forward to it and it's going to get colder soon and we won't be able to go swimming. It's because of Luke isn't it? You just want to spend all of your time with him don't you, because he matters more than me?" She was good.

"No, of course not baby. We can go to the beach." Iggy caved. Lily grinned and threw herself into his arms.

An hour later, Iggy and Lily had gone to the beach and Ally and Jacob had taken their kids to the park. I was jealous watching them all leave; I was tired of being cooped up in the house or the hospital. So, I decided to take Luke over to my mum's house. She lived on a quiet cul-de-sac so unless I was followed there, I wasn't in much danger of getting stalked by the paparazzi, but I still checked before I took Luke out of the car. I wasn't quite ready for the world to get 'the first glimpse of baby Ride'. I knocked the door and was greeted by my mum within seconds.

"Hi honey," she said giving me a hug. "Oh and look at my gorgeous grandson. I only saw you the other day and you've already grown so much." I passed him to her so she could have her chance to coo over him. We went into the kitchen where Fang was raiding the pantry like he always did when he came here.

"Hey Fang." I greeted him, he just waved.

"It's good that you're both here. I wanted to show you something." My mum told us causing Fang to emerge from the pantry.

"What's that?" I asked curiously.

"I found a video of you two when you were babies."

"I though _he _threw everything about us out. More likely destroying evidence against him." Fang muttered bitterly.

"He must have missed something. I thought you might want to see what you were like as babies."

"That sounds great." I was quite intrigued to see this video. We settled in the lounge and Fang and I were on either side of mum. I was holding Luke who had his head on my shoulder. Mum pressed play and the movie started. Two babies were on screen that looked almost exactly alike, except the one on the left was scowling and silent while the other made baby sounds.

"I can tell which one is you." I joked to Fang who glared at me. Suddenly baby-me broke out into a wide smile.

"_Oh look Violet smiled!" Mum's voice came enthusiastically from behind the camera. The camera moved to show a man sitting in a chair, his face obscured by a newspaper that he was reading._

"_So?" He asked abruptly._

"_It's a big milestone, and she looks so adorable. Don't you sweetheart?" I smiled even wider and made a few happy sounding noises._

Luke turned his head so he was looking at the TV.

"_I'll think it's a big milestone when they do something useful." He snorted._

"_What is your problem with them? Why can't you just be happy about them?"Reginald threw aside his paper angrily._

"_Because they're screwing up my life! I didn't ask for them!" the camera returned to Fang and I again. Fang scowled even harder and my smile disappeared and my lower lip started wobbling. So that's where Lily gets it from. Fang looked at me for a second and then reached out his tiny hand to grab mine._

Off-screen I looked at Fang, and gave him a small smile, which he returned.

"_Can we do this later?" My mum sighed. "I don't want to argue around them."_ The movie ended and I found that I had tears in my eyes. He really never cared about us but my mum did. She always had. I squeezed her hand tightly and she squeezed back. I saw that Fang was doing the same thing. I loved my mum and even though I had gone without her for twenty-two years, I couldn't cope without her now.

I headed home a couple of hours later after Fang and I had lunch with mum. I was currently sitting on the couch, thinking about the video. Luke was on a blanket on the ground, kicking his legs around and waving a rattle around, having the time of his life. I heard the garage door open and a few minutes later I heard Iggy enter the house and come towards into the lounge. He was carrying a fast asleep Lily.

"Hey," I whispered not wanting to wake her up. He sat down next to me and kissed me on the cheek.

"Hi, how was your day?" He asked, still cuddling Lily tightly.

"Alright, I took Luke around to mum's house but it was just a really peaceful day. How was the beach?"

"Good, we made sandcastles, had a picnic, went for a swim. I had to drink about fifty cups of coffee to get through the day and then Lily fell asleep on the drive home.

"Did you both wear sun block?" I knew that Iggy would make sure that Lily was protected from the sun but he always tried to get out of doing it for himself.

"Yes." He sighed, rolling his eyes. He grinned down at Luke. "And how about you buddy? Did you have a good day with mummy?" Luke gave Iggy a happy look and kicked his legs around enthusiastically. "I bet you did." Lily let out a little yawn and started stirring. Her eyes opened and she blinked a few times.

"Hi." She said quietly, snuggling into Iggy's chest.

"Hi princess. Did you have a good sleep?" Iggy asked tenderly, brushing her hair out of her face.

"Yeah, but I'm still really tired."

"Well, how about I put you up into bed so you can have a nice long nap?" Lily nodded. "Okay, say goodnight to mummy." Iggy passed Lily over to me, who hugged me around the neck tightly.

"Night mummy." Lily mumbled. I kissed the top of her head.

"Sweet dreams baby. Love you." Iggy took her up the stairs. I bent over to pick Luke up from the ground and hugged him tightly.

"We are so lucky to have your daddy." I whispered to him. "Some kids have useless daddies, me included, but you've got one of the good ones. Sometimes he seems a bit silly but he loves us and will take care of us." I smiled at Luke thinking about how lucky I was to have such a great family and today had really proved it to me.

**One Month Later**

I couldn't stop smiling as Iggy parked in the garage. Iggy put the handbrake on and gave me a huge grin. Without saying a word he leaned over to kiss me. There was no way to describe how we were both feeling.

"Wanna screw with the flock before we break the good news?" Iggy asked, chuckling slightly.

"Sure, why not." I felt light and airy. Like I was walking on air. Iggy had a tight arm around me as we walked into the house. We walked into the lounge where the Flock was all hanging out. Even though this trial hadn't been televised, they had still decided to be together while it was happening. The first thing I saw was Luke, who was in his baby bouncer. He had grown so much in a month and last week he started smiling. At the moment he was giving me one of his biggest smiles and reaching out for me. I immediately went to him and picked him up out of the baby bouncer.

"Hi baby." I greeted him and he laughed, cuddling up to me tightly. Lily came up and hugged onto my leg and I hugged her back with my free arm.

"So, we lost the court case, but I decided to cash in on it. We are going to be the subject of _E! Channel's_ newest reality show. Cameras will be here tomorrow morning so you all better be ready." Iggy was trying so hard to keep a straight face but I could see how happy he was behind it.

"We know your lying!" Angel and Ally called out in unison causing Iggy to start laughing.

"Hell yes I am! We won!" Iggy announced and excited chatter broke out. The tense days of hiding were over. we had came to an arrangement that if we were photographed and shown in a magazine, paper or on TV, we would get all the profit made from that issue. We also got a restraining order against Iggy's parents and a hefty compensation payout from the paper who had published the pictures in the first place.

"I think it was Violet who won it for us." Iggy said coming over to stand next to me. He picked Lily up and put his arm around me again. "She was amazing. You should have seen her sticking it to her father. It was actually kinda hot." I sighed, rolling my eyes. I was pretty sure everyone else was thinking the same thing, _typical Iggy._

We spent the rest of the evening celebrating, with the flock. It was just such a relief that this whole ordeal was over and we could go back to normal. I was happy that night when I was finally crawling into bed with Iggy. I rested my head on his chest and his arms were tightly around me. I was looking forward to a good nights sleep.

"Peace at last." Iggy sighed cheerfully. But of course, peace never lasts long in our house. The sound of Luke's crying came across the baby monitor.

"Never a dull moment." I laughed, getting out of bed.


	13. Little moments

**Chapter Thirteen- Little moments**

**October**

"Oh Maaaax!" Ally and I said in unison in sing-song voices. Max groaned and looked up. She'd been hiding from us all day. It was Halloween and we were having a party. All the kids were going trick or treating with my mum and staying the night there, making it Luke's first night being separated from me. I was nervous about it and it had broken my heart to leave him but determined not to let it ruin my night. Ally and I had found the perfect costume for Max but she was refusing to wear it. So, we were planning to use force.

"No." She complained. "There is no way in hell I will be wearing that."

"We'll let you wear tights underneath it." Ally suggested. Max was still scowling.

"Don't make us use force, because you know we will." I threatened, playing bad cop to Ally's good cop. Max didn't look scared. Ally and I exchanged looks and nodded.

"Force it is then."

"Fang!" Max called out. "Your sister and her friend are trying to force me into something." Fang came into the room and I put on my innocent baby sister face.

"What?" He asked.

"We want her to wear that for the party tonight." I said pointing to what Ally was holding. Fang's eyes widened. Then suddenly he came over and hugged me.

"Thank you. You're the best sister ever." He said before releasing me and leaving the room. Ally's smile gradually grew wider.

"Fang's going to really love it." She told Max. "He'll want to do stuff with you and that might lead to a little something." Max went red.

"Get out of my mind!" She yelled.

"Huh?" I asked confused.

"Nothing." Ally said trying to close the subject. "We need to start getting ready." She and I each grabbed Max by one arm and started dragging her out of the house and down the path.

* * *

Soon after, Ally and I were doing Max's hair and makeup. We were in Ally's room, the door was locked and we had an excess of alcohol stored in here with us. I checked my cell phone for the thousandth time. I was fretting about Luke wondering if he was okay without me.

"Maybe I should call..." I began.

"Violet, he'll be fine." Ally reassured me.

"But what if he needs me. He's so little and this is his first night away from his mummy." I said starting to dial. Ally snatched the phone of me. "Hey!" I exclaimed.

"You won't enjoy yourself if you're worrying about Luke the whole night. Your mum knows what she'd doing, if anything happens they will call you. I'm going to hide this so you stop obsessing."

"Fine." I huffed feeling annoyed. I was not obsessing.

"You are obsessing." Ally commented reading my thoughts. I scowled at her and went back to Max's hair.

"You guys are spending way too much time on my hair and makeup. What are you guys doing with it?"

"Nothing." We said together innocently. She didn't need know what we were doing, or she'd throw a fit.

"Okay, go get dressed." Ally instructed her, shoving the costume in to her hands and giving her a gentle shove in the direction of the bathroom.

"We're such great friends." I commented, causing the two of us to burst out laughing. We didn't manage to stop for a couple of minutes. When we finally did, Max still hadn't come out of the bathroom. I sauntered over to bang on the door. "You must be ready by now!" I called. "We have to get dressed too."

"It looks stupid." She replied.

"I bet it doesn't." Ally reassured her.

"I'm not coming out dressed like this."

"If you don't come out, we will get in." Ally threatened.

"Iggy taught me how to pick locks." I added in. Max sighed and I heard the door unlock and she came out reluctantly. She was dressed in a white dress with gold trim and she had fluffy white wings on. And of course the tights that we had compromised.

"You look amazing!" I exclaimed.

"Like such an angel." Ally chimed in. Max blushed for the second time today.

"Your turn now." She mumbled to me, not making eye contact, knowing I had my own reservations about what I was wearing. I grabbed my costume and went into the bathroom. The problem was I had only had a baby seven weeks ago and I was wearing a very short dress. Sure, because of my messed up DNA, I had lost a lot of my pregnancy weight in a short amount of time but things still weren't back to what they were before I got pregnant with Luke. Iggy told me that I looked beautiful no matter what, but he was my husband and had to say those kinds of things.

I put on the mid-thigh length red polka dot dress with a lining of black tulle to make the skirt stick out; it had a black trim and bows on the ends of the t-shirt length sleeves. I was going as Minnie mouse; I even had a headband the ears on it and yellow peep toe heels to match. I surveyed myself in the mirror.

_I don't look very motherly wearing this, _I thought to myself, snickering. I smoothed out the skirt, feeling thankful for my freakish DNA. I checked myself over for a final time, fixed my hair and exited the bathroom. I was quite happy with how I looked. Ally had gone into her walk in wardrobe and had gotten into her Alice in Wonderland gone bad, black and red costume. She looked amazing. The girls wolf whistled at me, causing me to blush and laugh. Then ally and I set out on another impossible task, getting Max to wear heels. Unlike with the Angel costume we couldn't convince her and she adamantly went with silver ballet flats. We then went downstairs to show the guys. I was sure they would have gotten ready in five minutes and then spent the afternoon playing video games.

We went in to the lounge, it was done up all creepily for Halloween and looked awesome. The guys were standing in the middle of the room waiting for us. Jacob who was dressed up as Zorro stepped forward and gave Ally a black rose, which she accepted happily and kissed him on the cheek. It was so sweet. Fang and Max, the ninja and the Angel, seemed almost hypnotised by each other and we simply staring at each other. I just looked at Iggy; he was in a footballer uniform, helmet and all.

"Oh so you're a football player." I stated. It was so typical of him. He could have at least tried to do something original and romantic.

"Nooo." Iggy began. "I'm... the guy off glee!"

"Finn?" I asked. His football uniform _was _red and white.

"No! The badass one with the Mohawk."

"You are not Puck!" I laughed. "If your any of the glee football players it Kurt."

"Except Kurt would wear better shoes." Ally added.

"Are you questioning my badassness?" Iggy quoted, reading off his iPhone.

"Did you just Google Puck quotes?"

"Um, sup MILF?"

"You're such a moron"

"Yes, but I'm your moron."

* * *

An hour later the party was in full swing. I was working the room, being a gracious hostess, dancing and drinking. I decided to sneak upstairs and use the phone in the bedroom to call my mum to check on Luke and I was sure that Lily would want me to say goodnight to her. I slipped out of the room and up the stairs unnoticed and went to our bedroom and picking up the phone. But then I felt a pair of arms wrap around my waist.

"Who are you calling?" Iggy whispered in my ear. I gasped and turned around in his arms.

"How did you..."

"You think I haven't stopped staring at you in that short skirt? I saw you sneak away. You're calling your mum aren't you? To check on Luke?" I nodded.

"It's just... We came so close to losing him and he's still tiny even if he is catching up to normal seven week olds." Iggy hugged me close.

"Sweetheart, he's fine. The doctor said he's doing really well. Are you sure it's just not you needing him?"

"If anything happened to him, I couldn't live with myself. It was my fault he was born early and that everything went wrong."

"No it wasn't. I know it's easy to blame yourself but you did nothing wrong, it was the stupid paparazzi making you stressed. Don't ever think it was your fault, because I know you love our kids more than anything." Iggy held onto me silently for a few minutes until I spoke up.

"Maybe it's the alcohol talking, but do you think they'd miss us at the party if we stayed up here for awhile because you look really hot in that 'Puck' outfit." Iggy grinned widely.

"They might miss us, but we sure as hell won't miss them." I pushed Iggy down onto the bed and jumped on him.

* * *

"Wow that was fun!" Iggy exclaimed as we both got dressed. We'd been up here for about half an hour and had decided to rejoin the party.

"Yeah, it took my mind of things. Thanks." I smiled at him, pulling my dress over my head. We made our selves decent, apart from Iggy's hair which was still sticking up in every direction. We went downstairs and immediately were met by the other members of the flock. Nudge was dressed up in full eighty's gear, Angel was a cute witch and Gazzy was a mad scientist.

"Where have you two been?" Nudge asked.

"Uh, upstairs." Iggy said, attempting to flatten his hair. The others just grimaced, guessing what we had been up to. Ally grabbed my hand and pulled me onto the dance floor, so we could dance together. We were having a great time until Jacob tried to cut into to dance with Ally.

"What are you doing?" Ally asked indignantly.

"Dancing with you." Jacob said keeping it as simple as ever.

"No you're not, we can dance later." she told him turning back to me. Jacob walked away, dejected. We were interrupted again by Iggy.

"Hey Vi, wanna dance?" He asked, looking as if he already knew the answer would be yes.

"No." I replied.

"B-b-but why?" He looked very shaken.

"Whenever I want to talk about my feelings with you, you don't stop playing 'grand theft auto' or whatever."

"But I have prostitutes to run over!" He whined.

"Well, I'm dancing with my best friend!" I closed the subject and Iggy looked as if someone had kicked his puppy.

**Iggy POV**

"Guys." I said going over to Fang and Jacob. "I think... I just got rejected."

"Same." Jacob replied miserably.

"By my own wife!" I complained. Fang snorted, stupid jerk that he is.

"If you had to add that part on, then no wonder." I glared at him the something hit me. I remembered the effect of alcohol on Violet.

"Oh well, if I wait an hour or so Violet is going to be turned into a slut." I chuckled evilly. Fang growled and hit me.

"Dude!" He exclaimed disgustedly.

"You know I'm not lying." Fang went silent for a moment before saying,

"So not the point."

"I like slutty Violet." I said thoughtfully "Way more than 'lets-talk-about-our-feelings' Violet."

"In a perfect world, Violet would be married to complete prude who fears and respects me." Fang commented. Ass.

"If you carried a baseball bat around, you might get the second part of that." Jacob added.

"Why would that..." I wondered. "Oh! Emo bastards!" I spat storming off.

**Violet POV**

"Iggy only ever has one thing on his mind." I sighed to Ally as we danced together. "I would just like one day where he is not trying to get into my pants."

"Jake hardly ever says anything sweet in public. It's like he's scared that everyone will laugh at him." Ally said looking just as irritated.

"Guys are stupid."

"Yeah, but they can be sweet too. I mean, Jake giving me that black rose, loads of people think it stands for death but in his mind I saw him thinking it means eternal love."

"Yes, that was sweet." I agreed, "But I have to deal with 'Puck'."

"His Mohawk is all wrong."

* * *

"Violet!" Iggy said abruptly. It was near the end of the party and people were starting to filter home. The rest of the flock (minus Iggy) and I were still drinking up the remainder of the alcohol. I looked up when Iggy said my name. "I love you, you're freaking hot and I'm not afraid to say that in public." He shot a meaningful glance at Fang and Jacob. "Yeah, I can be douche bag but heck that's how I've always been." I stood up and walked over to stand in front of him. I stayed still for a moment before kissing him full on the mouth.

"Take me upstairs now." I whispered in his ear. Without any hesitation Iggy picked me up and ran towards the staircase.

**December**

"Hey." Iggy said entering the house, coming in from the garage. I was wiping down the dining room table after lunch. Iggy had been out with friends.

"How was lunch?" I asked, putting down the cloth and looking up at him. He looked as if her was bursting to tell me something.

"I got a job offer." He blurted out. My mouth dropped open in surprise.

"B-but how? You don't have any formal education. You didn't even apply." He would have told me if he was doing something like that.

"Well, you know my friend Ryan; he works for that big food company?"

"Yeah, yeah, he works in advertising?"

"That's the one. Anyway, his boss was looking for a new head of product development. Ryan suggested me. I just had lunch with the boss and he offered me the job."

"Oh my god Iggy, congratulations." I went over and hugged him. "When do you start?"

"I haven't accepted... yet. I told him I needed to think about it. It sounds like a great job, good hours, nine to five. I can get time off easily. And the pay is amazing, a six figure salary and it means I don't have to do the stock market thing anymore, so we'll be financially secure."

"So why do you have to think about it? Making new food products and bossing people around seems like the perfect job for you."

"I need to ask if you thought it was the best move for us. You are my wife and if I take this job you'll be at home with kids, I need to make sure that this is okay with you."

"As I've told you a million times, I'm behind you, no matter what." I squeezed his hand and gave him a smile.

* * *

After Iggy had called his new boss and confirmed that he wanted the job, we decided to tell Lily. We found her playing in the lounge by herself.

"Hey princess, I have something I want to tell you." Iggy said as we sat on the couch together. I had Luke on my knee. He had just woken up from nap, at two and half months old he couldn't sit up on his own yet so I put a hand on his back to support him.

"Okay daddy." Lily said putting her dolls carefully back in their home and running over to daddy. Iggy lifted her onto his lap.

"So, I got job. That means that we're going to have more money." Lily immediately burst in to tears.

"B-b-but that means you n-n-not going to be around much and we won't be able to play t-t-together." She cried. Iggy hugged her close and her tears made a wet patch on his t-shirt. Luke eyes widened at the sight of his big sister crying and I was a little worried he might start to as well. But luckily he just watched her silently.

"Shhh baby, it's alright." He comforted her, stoking her hair. "I am going to be around. I'll see you before I go to work and we can play together when I get home and I'll still able to tuck you into bed. I don't have to work during the weekends and I can get some holiday time so we can go on vacation. I don't have to start work until after Christmas so we can spend as much time together until then as you want. Okay princess?" He assured her. Lily nodded and sniffed as Iggy wiped her tears away.

"C-c-can we go play now?" Lily asked quietly.

"Of course sweetheart." Iggy said following Lily down to the doll's house. He was such a good dad, playing dolls without a single complaint. Not even when Lily told him off for mismatching a doll's shoes. I smiled watching them, as Luke made cute little baby noises from my lap. We were going to be okay.

* * *

The flock came over for dinner so Iggy decided to tell everyone about his new job then, Lily had promised to keep quiet about it until then. As everyone was nearing the end of their meal, Iggy stood up

"I have a big announcement to make." He said over the flocks chatter. Fang's eyes immediately went to me.

"Again?" He asked. "That was fast." Did he seriously think it was that? Who did he think I was?

"I'm not pregnant!" I protested. "Why does everybody always jump to that conclusion?"

"Well, it wouldn't be that much of a surprise." Ally commented making me pause for a moment.

"I really can't argue with that."

"Hello?" Iggy interrupted loudly. "Big announcement?"

"You're coming out of the closest?" Ally asked gleefully. "It's okay Violet we'll find you someone else." Iggy glared at her.

"No, I got a job. I am the new head of product development at Wisehouse food corp." He said smugly. Everyone looked stunned.

"Uh congratulations." Jacob said, surprised.

"Yeah, sounds like a perfect job for you." Max said.

"That poor company will be bankrupt by Easter." Ally joked, earning her another dirty look from Iggy.

**January**

Iggy had started work almost two weeks ago and today I was taking Lily and Luke to go visit him at work. I was doing a final check to make sure I had everything I'd need before strapping the kids in. I put Luke in first, making sure he was safe and secure. I kissed his forehead and shut the door. I went around to the other side where Lily was already waiting in her car seat, ready for me to do the seatbelt up. Going out had become such a mission. I remembered back to the days when I'd only need car keys and my wallet when leaving the house. Funnily enough I didn't miss them one little bit.

"Ready to go cupcake?" I asked Lily. She nodded.

"I can't wait to see daddy at work." She said happily. I smiled shutting her car door and getting into my own seat. I did my seat belt up, setting a good example for my two impressionable children. I back down the driveway and got on the road. If you'd asked me just three years ago, I would have said no way in hell that I would be taking my two kids to go see my husband at work. The drive to Iggy's work took half an hour but finally we parked outside the tall office building.

"Wow!" Lily exclaimed as I got her out of the car, instructing her to wait on the footpath while I got Luke out. "It's so big."

"Yeah, Daddy's office is on the seventh floor." I told her picking Luke up out of his car seat and making sure I had my bag with me. "Ok, let go." I took Lily's hand and we went into the building. We took the elevator up to the seventh floor, with Lily pushing the buttons. The cheerful music played as we waited to get up to the seventh floor. The doors slid open to reveal a busy office floor. I asked someone where Iggy's office was and he directed me to his assistant. When I saw her I was stunned. She had tall, thin and blond and looked as if she belonged in a fashion spread. I walked up to her desk, slowly.

"Uh, hi I'm here to see Iggy Ride." I said.

"He's my daddy!" Lily told her happily.

"Oh so you're Lily." the assistant smiled at her. "Your daddy talks about you all the time. I'm Tabitha his assistant. You must be Violet." She extended a hand to me.

"Uh yeah." I shook it hesitantly. I was a little edgy about the fact that Iggy had this really pretty woman as his assistant.

"You can go right on through." She said pointing a door off to the side of her desk. I thanked her hastily and went into Iggy's office. He looked up from his computer when I opened the door and smiled when he saw it was us.

"Hey!" He greeted us enthusiastically. Lily ran over behind his desk and crawled up on to his lap.

"Hi daddy! We came to visit you." She said hugging him.

"Well that was nice of you." Iggy responded kissing Lily on the top of her head. "Hey, I've got something for you." Iggy opened a draw up and pulled out a couple of pads of pink post-its. "They gave me a big package of different coloured pads of these and I don't like pink but I could think of a little girl who does." Lily took them from him happily.

"Those will be stuck all over the house now." I laughed.

"Oh well as long as she's happy." Iggy looked fondly down at Lily, running his fingers through her strawberry blonde curls. I walked over to them, and put Luke down Iggy's lap too. Luke started trying to grab things off the desk, but Iggy put anything thing that Luke could use to accidently hurt himself or make a mess.

We chattered for a while until Iggy decided to take us on a tour of his floor. He carried Luke while Lily skipped along between us. Iggy showed us the kitchen; where they developed new products and introduced us to some of the other staff members. From what I could see, he loved his job and was good at it. The people in his department seemed to like him and they were very friendly. I was so proud of him because that despite all the crap that had been thrown at him during his life, he'd managed to build this life for us.

**March**

"Mummy, I don't know what to get him." Lily complained. It was the day before Shadow's birthday and Lily, Luke and I were out shopping for a present for him. By a stroke of luck, Iggy had been required to go to a conference for work in Dallas, so he wasn't around to be over-protective of Lily. We had just dropped him off at the airport. Lily wanted to get him a present by herself like he had for her, but she was struggling to come up with something.

"Sweetheart, I'm sure we'll find him something." I had already picked out our present for him, some superhero action figures so I was pushing Luke's pushchair around the toy store. He had just started teething and it made him irritable. He'd been such a good boy, staying quiet while we dropped Iggy off at the airport and shopped. But now he was starting to kick up a fuss slightly. I knew it wouldn't be long before he had a full out tantrum but I couldn't exactly tell Lily to hurry up and make up her mind.

"But, he got me such a good present and I wanted to get him something equally as good." Her eyes were welling up with tears. I knelt down beside her.

"We will find something and Shadow is going to love it because he is your best friend and will love anything that you get him. Come here, give me a cuddle." I put my arms around my daughter and she hugged me, sniffling slightly. I released her after awhile. "Are you okay now?" I asked her and she nodded, wiping her eyes. We continued walking down the aisles while Lily closely examined every product.

"Mummy, I found it!" She said finally holding up a toy car set. I smiled, happy she'd found something because it was getting harder and harder to get Luke to stop letting out noises of annoyance. Even though he was now gnawing on a teething ring I could tell he wasn't completely happy. We paid for our purchases and went back out to the car park. And not a moment too soon. The minute we stepped outside the store Luke threw his teething ring onto the ground and started crying loudly earning stares from other people.

"Shhh darling." I comforted him picking up the teething ring of the concrete. "I know it's sore, I know." I hurried over to the car pushing the push chair and holding Lily's hand. I put Luke into his car seat after giving him quick cuddle. I put a blanket over him; maybe he'd fall asleep on the way home. I buckled Lily in and we drove home. As I'd thought Luke was fast asleep when I parked in the garage. Lily had fallen asleep too. I got Luke up into his cot first before carrying Lily into bed.

* * *

After they had both woken up from their naps, we went down to the flock's house so we could wrap Shadow's presents without him seeing them. Lily had also wanted to make him a card. Fang and I were sitting at the table with her, Luke was playing on the ground with some toys but he was mostly chewing on them.

"So, how's things going?" I asked Fang, I really enjoyed times when we were the only two adults. We could catch up properly.

"Good." Well we could catch up, if Fang would use something other than mono-syllabic words.

"Uncle Fangy can you pass me the purple crayon?" Lily asked barely looking up from her picture. Fang handed it to her. "Thanks."

"So, how are things with you?" Fang asked.

"Alright, Luke's teething though, poor thing." I looked down at my blue-eyed little boy; I hated to see him so upset.

"Oh yeah, I remember when Lils was teething. We looked after her one night and she just chewed on everything."

"I'm done!" Lily announced putting her crayon down. "What'd you think?" She asked holding up her card. On the front there was a picture of her and Shadow holding hands. Fang smiled at her in response.

"It looks beautiful, I think he's going to thinks it's amazing." I told her, leaning down to kiss her on the forehead.

* * *

I giggled as Luke rolled around on my bed trying to get his foot in his mouth. The room was lit up with sunlight which was perfect weather for Shadow's birthday. Luke had had a bad night with his teething and had been crying half the night. About an hour ago I had let him stay in my room with me so he wouldn't keep waking everyone up. I especially didn't want Lily waking up; she'd been up late worrying about if Shadow would like her present. I was going to let her sleep until Shadow started opening his presents if I could. But of course the best laid plans don't always happen.

"Mummy?" Came a tiny voice from the doorway. I looked up and Lily ran towards me. I picked her up onto my lap.

"Hi baby, did you have a good sleep?"

"No," She grumbled. "I couldn't fall asleep."

"Why?" I asked, stroking her hair.

"I kept worrying that Shadow was going to hate my present."

"Lily, darling you need to stop that. He will love it, because it comes from you, and I must say that card you drew is a piece of art." She smiled slightly, the corners of her mouth twitching up. "Wanna go get dressed?" She nodded and I picked Luke up off the bed. I got them both ready for the day. While Lily brushed her teeth, I got Luke to open his mouth so I could see how his teeth were doing. He had cut two of his bottom teeth, since I checked last night, which would explain the irritableness and the crying.

"Soon, we're going to have to get you toothbrush." I told Luke, brushing some of his strawberry blond hair back. Lily went off to play with Shadow and Luke played with his toys on the ground, while I got dressed. The flock bought McDonalds around for breakfast since the kitchen monkey was off playing businessman.

* * *

"So, whose present do you want first?" Ally asked Shadow when it was present opening time. Lily was extremely nervous and was hiding behind my legs. I was holding Luke who was biting on a teething ring so he wouldn't start crying.

"Yours and dads." He told her getting about as excited as Shadow got. Jacob brought in a gray and silver bike that had training wheels so it would be perfect for Shadow.

"Wow! Thanks!" Shadow exclaimed looking amazed.

"There's one rule to the present though." Ally said. "An adult has to be with you when you ride your bike, okay?" Shadow hugged Ally and Jacob. He then got presents galore from the rest of us, even one from Typa which was adorable. Finally it was time for Lily to give him her present. She ran over to him and shoved it in his direction and then scurried behind me, hiding again. Once Shadow had opened her present he stood up and starting coming towards her.

"Mummy does he like it?" She whispered, burying her face in my leg.

"I love it." Shadow said, stepping around me and gave Lily a hug. Lily's face lit up and she hugged him back tightly.

"Okay, so does everyone want to go get into their swimsuits and then after we've gone swimming we can eat cake?" Everyone agreed with that.

* * *

"I wonder how old they'll be when they get together." Ally asked me thoughtfully. We were sitting by the poolside, soaking up the sun. Nudge and Angel were playing with Luke who was in an okay mood after I gave him some infant painkillers to settle him down.

"I don't know. I don't think they could cope seeing each other people when their older so hopefully not long." Ally agreed with me as we lay back in the sun.

"If Iggy was here, Lily wouldn't have been able to go swimming without wearing a full body wetsuit. I mean, Shadow's only turning three, it's not like he's going to perve down her swimsuit." Ally told me.

"He overreacts when it comes to her. Iggy can just get so protective of her that it gets to a point where he seems crazy." I sighed. He needed to tone it down a notch, like five notches.

"Seems crazy?" We exchanged a glance and both started laughing until Lily ran up to me with that oh-so-innocent-mummy-I-want-something look on her face.

"Mummy can I swim in the deep end?" She asked giving me bambi eyes. But I had learned to get past those ages ago.

"Only if an adult goes with you." I told her.

"Thank you mummy!" Lily babbled, before turning around and calling out. "Uncle Fangy?" within minutes Lily was in Fang's arms in the deep end of the pool. She has him wrapped around her little finger.

"He is such a sucker." I grinned watching them together.

"Oh I know."

Within ten minutes I was sunbathing alone. Jacob had taken Ally off to swim and she hadn't come back. I was contemplating going to sleep since my rest had been interrupted a lot last night. I shut my eyes and was very close to dozing off when my phone started ringing. I opened it and put it to my ear, sitting up.

"Hello?"

"Hey Violet, missing me?" Iggy asked.

"A bit. Like the size of your brain."

"I know why I love you so much. Well I miss you and the kids. How's Luke doing?"

"Two of his bottom teeth just came through so he was in a bad mood last night. But he's being so good considering."

"I'll bring him back something to cheer him up."

"You're so sweet, so how's the conference going?"

"Great. It's really interesting, I thought I'd get really bored but I'm learning like crap loads. And its cool hanging out with the people at the office without being at the office we all went out for dinner last night. Oh and Mitch invited us around for dinner on Friday night." I groaned.

"His wife is such a snob though. She looks at me like I'm a slut."

"I know but can you just do this one thing. For me."

"You owe me big time. Like changing all of Luke's nappies for a month big time."

"You've got yourself a deal." There was a big splash from the pool. "What's that splashing sound?"

"I'm just hanging out by the pool. Getting a tan."

"Oh really, what bikini are you wearing."

"Like I'd tell you, pervert."

"How am I a pervert if I married to you?"

"You're a pervert in general. You've always been that way and you're just showing you're perverted side instead of the sweet side that I like."

"Uh, I love you and I wish I was there with you, not to perve on you just because I miss you insanely."

"Better. I love you too."

"I've got to go now but give my love to the kids and I'll call you tonight. Bye."

"Bye, I miss you. A lot."

"Knew you did." I hung up and put my phone down and did a running jump into the deep end of the pool. Everyone except Angel, Luke, Nudge and Typa was in the pool now. We swam around for about an hour until it was cake time. I got out and dried myself off and then helped Lily. Ally brought out the chocolate cake that was iced with 'Happy 3rd Birthday Shadow.' We sang happy birthday to him and Ally told him to make a wish as he blew out the candle.

Something seemed to upset Ally when Shadow made the wish because when we were all eating the cake she ran off toward the house looking incredibly upset. I watched after her worriedly and was about to go after her when Shadow whispered to me.

"It's okay; she's just upset they're gone." He told me.

"Who's gone?" I asked crouching down to his level. All Shadow did was hold up a leather necklace with two rings on I before going off to stand by his father. I was completely confused and was going to get to the bottom off this.

**June**

"Lily, are you sure you don't want to get in the stroller?" I asked her for the millionth time.

"I'm sure mummy. I can walk." Lily said determinedly. Today was Typa's first birthday and we were off to Disneyland to celebrate. She had opened her presents this morning. She got a baby-gymnastic bounce and spin zebra from her parents. Shadow got her a cute little locket that had Typa written across the front in cursive, inside there were two pictures, one of Typa and Shadow together and one of the two kids with their parents. Max and Fang had gotten her a bunch of books which from the looks of the covers were going to be used as bedtime stories.

Nudge and Angel had gotten Typa three new dresses in red, dark blue and pink. The last dress, she pushed away in disgusted because she hated pink. Ally looked so proud. I had looked down at my little girl, dressed in her pink pyjamas and pink slippers and clutching her pink teddy and pink pig, as long as she was happy, I'd never say anything to upset her. Gazzy had gotten Typa a really cute pull along dog named spot.

Finally it was time for our present. Lily and Luke had been acting up all week so in frustration and knowing that I'd never be able to buy Typa a present with them throwing tantrums every five minutes, I'd asked Iggy to get one on the way home from work. He'd brought it home fully wrapped up, so I'd just nodded and gone back to trying to calm the kids down. And only know did I find out what he'd gone, a soft toy ferret called Farrah. I was so embarrassed and apologised multiple times while glaring at my husband. But amazingly Typa loved it so it was here to stay.

It was a forty-five minute drive out here and luckily Iggy decided to forgo driving like a maniac. He had taken the day off work to come with us. The car park wasn't completely full because it was a school day so there would be fewer my little girl, dressed in her pink pyjama's crowds. We walked through the gates and Lily's eyes widened from seeing the enormity of the park.

"Daddy, I want you to push me now." she said. Iggy stopped pushing the double stroller and lifted Lily in and did up the seat belt-like thingy. "Can we go see the Princess Fantasy Faire first?" She asked once she was safely in the stroller next to Luke. Everyone agreed so we went off to find it. Iggy let Lily out once we saw the huge arch and all the Disney princesses. She held onto my hand looking around wide-eyed. Snow White came over to us and crouched in front of Lily.

"What's your name?" She asked as Lily started jumping up and down with excitement.

"Li-li-lily." She stammered, surprised that her favourite Disney Princess would come and talk to her." "You're my favourite Princess." She said with more confidence.

"Well, would you like a photograph with me?" The princess asked my little girl.

"Yes please!"

We all laughed as Iggy took out his camera and I stepped aside to let Lily have her moment. Lily looked more excited than she ever had been in her life. Finally we got her back in the stroller to head to the next attraction. I walked alongside Iggy as he pushed the stroller. I entwined my fingers in his.

We went to Sleeping Beauty Walkthrough Castle was fantastic and Lily loved it, like she did anything that was related to princesses. As we walked through the castle we saw all these cool 3-D pictures from the Sleeping Beauty movie which as the mother of a two year old girl I had seen many times.

Next, we were off to the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage. This was fantastic because all the kids loved finding Nemo. During the ride we went 'into the depths of the Tomorrowland Lagoon' in a big yellow submarine and got to see Nemo.

"Look Luke," I said pointing to the orange talking fish. "It's Nemo; you know who Nemo is right?" Luke looked at Nemo and beamed.

"Nene!" He exclaimed which was what he called Nemo since he couldn't talk properly. He clapped his hands together smiling; it made me so happy to see my baby this delighted. We planned to do one more ride before taking a much needed break for Lunch. We headed towards the storybook Land Canal Boats. We ditched the strollers for the ride because we needed to get into little boats. Iggy held Luke who was babbling away, incredibly excited as his eyes darted around to see everything. Lily sat on my knee and gave a running commentary about everything we saw. It was so adorable. The kids got really enthusiastic whenever we floated past a new scene.

"Okay, lunchtime. Is that a good idea?" I asked Lily and Luke as I put them back into the stroller after the ride. They both nodded. "Hungry?" more nodding. We got lunch at the closest place which was the Tomorrowland Terrace. There were so many of us that they had to put two tables together so we could all sit together. The food was very American.

"I feel so patriotic." I whispered to Iggy who laughed appreciatively. The food was great never-the-less. After lunch it was time for Goofy's playhouse. There was spongy material covering the whole floor of the playhouse which made it fun for the kids to bounce on. It was a literal playhouse. The kids all had a great time running around and climbing over things. Although for Luke it was more he crawling around and Iggy helping him climb.

The next ride was something we had chosen to go on because of a certain Halloween costume one of us wore. It was an Alice in Wonderland Ride based on the Tim Burton film rather than the animated one. We got inside an oversized caterpillar which the kids found hilarious. We got to see all the characters like the Cheshire Cat for example. It was my favourite ride of the day, because it wasn't completely child oriented.

We rounded off the day with a trip to Chip N' Dales tree house. It was somewhat of a hangout place. The kids climbed up this spiral staircase where they could see the whole of toon town and have fun. Luke didn't join in on the particular attraction. Why? Because he was already fast asleep in the stroller.

After the other three kids had enough of the tree house, we returned to the cars to head home. Luke hadn't woken up and by the look of her; Lily would be asleep within twenty minutes. I put Luke into his car seat and buckled him in. I went back for Lily.

"No," She mumbled in her half asleep state, "I don't wanna leave." I kissed her forehead and strapped her in. I found her a blanket to help her go to sleep. I got into the front seat and waited for Iggy to finish collapsing the stroller. He finished and got into the driver's seat and soon we were on the road home. Lily had joined her brother in dreamland and I was staring out the window with something on my mind. It was days like this that convinced me that I wanted another baby. The debate had been raging in my mind for several months. There were the two things that I decided on. Three was my absolute limit and I didn't want a baby for awhile. But still, could I really handle going through another pregnancy and having another kid to look after?

"What's on your mind?" Iggy asked out of the blue. I turned to look at him.

"Babies. More specifically your babies."

"Is this my babies who are asleep in the backseat or my theoretical babies?"

"Theoretical." Iggy's face paled.

"You're not-"

"No, of course not. You'd be dead by now if I was."

"Then what's the problem with my theoretical babies?"

"Do we want one or not? Another one. I'm not saying now, definitely not now but later. And just one of them. There should really only be three people that have our DNA."

"Yeah, I'd like to have another kid. Like you said now isn't the best time with my job and two little kids but way off in the future, it'd be great. I mean if you change your mind we won't but if say in two years time, we're both still on the wavelength, we try for one." I smiled.

"That's sounds like a great idea. But if it happens before two years..."

"Oh yeah, I'm totally dead meat."

**June**

"I hate doing the budget." Iggy complained. He was sprawled out on the lounge floor with pages of numbers spread out around him. At the end of each financial quarter Iggy had to work out his department's expenses and profits. It was a huge job and it was due in tomorrow.

"Don't you have someone you can delegate it to?" I asked helping Luke to his feet. He was very close to taking his first steps. He could pull himself up using the coffee table, stand on his own and he could walk when holding onto my hands. But whenever he tried to take a step by himself he'd fall.

"Nope, as head of department it's my responsibility." I smiled, thinking about how seriously Iggy took this job. I let Luke's hands go so he could try walk on his own but as soon as he tried he fell. I caught him quickly so he didn't hurt himself. Luke gave me a frustrated look.

"I know darling, but you're going to walk really soon." I reassured him. Luke pulled on my hands indicating he wanted to stand up again. I helped him up and stood so he could walk around while clinging onto my hands. "Good boy." I encouraged him. I think a reason why he was so determined to walk was Typa. She and Luke had developed some form of rivalry and Luke was always irritated that she achieved milestones before him. Luke let go of my hands and took a few teetering steps. I beamed at him, watching him keeping going without falling. My little boy was walking! But unfortunately he walked right past Iggy and knocked over a glass of water. All over Iggy's papers.

"No!" Iggy yelled. Luke fell over and I hurried over to him.

"Good boy, I'm so proud of you." I cuddled him and kissed his forehead.

"All my work is ruined!" Iggy exclaimed.

"I don't care. You can print out that stuff again. Luke just took his first steps. That is never going to happen again." Iggy sighed and stood up and came over to us, taking Luke from me.

"Well done buddy even if I am going to have to work through the night."


	14. Aloha

Chapter Fourteen- Aloha

I was sitting at the dining room table, Lily was sitting next to me drawing a picture and I was feeding Luke his dinner.

"Here comes the plane." I pretended the spoon was a plane as I put it in Luke's mouth. He smiled and ate it down.

"Mummy, when's daddy getting home?" Lily asked, looking up from her picture. Iggy was half an hour late getting home from work.

"I don't know darling. He's probably just got caught in a meeting or something."

"Oh, I'm just hungry and he needs to start cooking." That was true, even though Ally and Jacob had taken their kids down to the flocks', they'd be back for dinner, probably with the flock in tow, all wanting food.

"Maybe I should start dinner." I said thoughtfully, spooning more food in to Luke's waiting mouth.

"No!" Lily shouted sounding alarmed.

"Is my cooking that bad." I laughed and Lily nodded feverently. I heard the garage door open and the unmistakable sound of Iggy parking. He was home, finally. He came into the dining room with an excited grin on his face.

"Hi daddy!" Lily jumped out of her chair and ran to Iggy. He picked her up and hugged her.

"Hi princess." He kissed her on the forehead and then looked at Luke, who had baby food smeared all over his face. He reached out to ruffle Luke's hair. Luke gave him a big smile in response. Iggy sat down after giving me a kiss.

"How was work?" I asked, scraping the bowl to get the last of Luke's food out and put it into his mouth.

"I've got some good news." Iggy said. "I have been asked to speak at a company conference in Hawaii on the sixth of September. The bosses of the whole company are going to be there and it could really open doors for me."

"Oh honey, that's amazing!" Then I realised something. "Wait, that's the day before Lily's birthday." Lily's eyes widened.

"You're going to miss my birthday!" She exclaimed looking upset.

"No darling, I wouldn't miss that for anything. I have booked us and the whole flock for a week in Hawaii!"

"You are the best husband ever!" I squealed kissing him.

"Hawaii. That's where Lilo and Stitch live, right?" Lily asked and Iggy nodded laughing. "Wow! That's so cool!" I picked Luke up out his highchair and started wiping the baby food of his face.

"We're going on holiday baby." I told him. "It's going to be sunny and we can go to the beach." Luke laughed and smiled. I heard the front door open and the sounds of the whole flock entering the house. Time to tell the flock.

"Hey guys, have a seat, we need to tell you something." Iggy said gesturing to the seats around the table.

"And no. I'm not pregnant." I said knowing that they would probably jump to that conclusion, like the last time we'd had something big to tell them. The flock sat down and Iggy stood up, always one to make it dramatic. He kept holding onto Lily while he stood.

"So, I know you all worship the ground I walk on, I mean why wouldn't you, I'm unbelievably handsome, I'm highly intelligent, I have a kick-ass car and my more recent purchase of an awesome boat."

"Sweetheart, I don't think they'll be able to see Hawaii with your ego in the way." I interrupted him.

"That cut me deep Violet." Iggy said sounding mock-hurt.

"What about Hawaii?" Max asked and the whole flocked looked incredibly interested all of a sudden.

"We're going to Hawaii for my birthday." Lily announced excitedly. "Cause daddy has a con... a con..." Lily looked at me unsure how to pronounce the word.

"A conference baby."

"Yeah, that!" She was such an adorable little girl. The whole flock started talking excitedly. Cue the Nudge channel in three, two, one.

"OMG! Hawaii! It's going to be so awesome, with the beaches and where are we staying? I hope it's a fancy resort with a pool and a spa!"

* * *

A couple of weeks later, everyone was packing as it was the evening before we left. I had already packed my suitcase and I needed to get the kids ones packed to but I was having trouble with the biggest kid in my life.

"Ig, you don't need to take your whole office." I told him repacking his bag, taking out the files of paper that he thought he needed to take.

"But what if I need them." Iggy had been nervous about speaking at the conference ever since he'd found out about it. He had spent hours working on the power point and I'd sometimes wake up in the middle of the night and find him muttering the speech to himself while lying in bed. I put my hands on his shoulders and looked him straight in the eye.

"You are going to be amazing; I won't be surprised if they want you to take over the company after they hear your presentation." I pulled him down to kiss him since I couldn't even kiss while standing on tip toes, he was that much of a giant. "You can take the laptop and your cell phone." I told him as I pulled away; I then reached into his bedside drawer and pulled out a certain box. "And remember to bring plenty of these." I said pushing the box into his hand. Iggy grinned.

"I'm serious, we don't want any accidents." I told him as I left the room to go get the kids packed up as I went near to Ally and Jacobs door and heard them arguing.

"Just leave these five pairs here." Jacob said exasperatedly.

"I can't leave those ones." Ally gasped

"What about these ones?" Jacob suggested.

"I need all of them!"

"Prove it." I laughed, loud enough for them to hear me as I walked into Luke's room.  
Ally was... enthusiastic about her shoes to put it kindly. I found Luke playing on the ground which he immediately stopped when I came into the room and he got up and hurried over to me, hugging onto my legs. He was such a mama's boy.

"Hi sweetheart." I said as I picked him up.

"Ba ba ba." He babbled. He was close to talking and I would sit with him whenever I got the chance and try to get him to say stuff but to no avail. It was alright though; he'd talk when he felt like it. I smiled going over to his closet to find a bag to put all his clothes in. I put him on the floor while going through his drawers looking what he might need. After getting his clothes all together I sat down beside Luke.

"Baby? Do you want to pick some toys to take?" I asked Luke pointing over to his toys. Luke nodded, understanding me and went over to pick a few toys to take with us. Well that was him done. I let him go back to playing his game and went to help Lily. But as I was walking into her room I found her zipping up her bright pink suitcase. She looked up when I walked in.

"Oh hi mummy, I just finished packing." She looked nervous and stood in front of her suitcase.

"Okay, just let me check it to make sure you've got everything."

"But I've checked." I frowned and cocked my head to one side.

"What are you hiding?" I asked.

"Nothing." Little liar.

"Lily, let me see your suitcase." I told her. Lily gave me a stubborn, steely look for a moment before stepping to the side; I opened her suitcase and found nothing but dolls. "Sweetie you can't take all these dolls. What about your clothes?"

"But I need them all!" She protested.

"You can take five." I said calmly knowing it was the only way to reason with her, she'd start crying and running off to Iggy if I yelled.

"No! I need them all!" She stomped out of the room.

**Lily POV**

I stormed into Shadow room and sat down next to him on his bed.

"Mummy's being annoying." I complained, folding my arms and scowling.

"Why?" He asked.

"She won't let me take all my dolls." I sighed and then gasped when I saw Shadows suitcase open on the ground, there was heaps of room in there.

"Hey shadow?" I inquired eagerly, grinning.

"What?" He asked suspiciously.

"You have a lot of room in your suitcase." I commented.

"No."

"Bu-"

"No."

"Whhhyyy." I whined

"Everyone will laugh at me." I gave him my meanest glare.

"So, you care about what people think about you more than me?" I stared using the fake tears- they always worked on Daddy.

"I've seen the fake tears before." Shadow said. I jumped up from the bed and stomped my foot.

"They're not fake. Why are you being so mean to me?"

"I'm not being mean. You're trying to use your best friend."

"Well... well... boys are stupid!" I exclaimed running out of the room. "Daddy!" I called, going into his room. Daddy looked up from his packing and seeing I was upset hurried to pick me up and gave me a big hug.

**Violet POV**

Early the next morning we were all set to leave. Lily and I had talked and finally managed to compromise on her suitcase and now I was trying to get everyone out of the house, but it was five a.m. and they were all sluggish and sleepy but I managed to get there asses out the door and into cars by half past five.

"Why did we have to get up so early?" Iggy complained tiredly, as he drove to the airport.

"Because, the airport is on the other side of town so we had to go all the way through town and we need to be there early so we're prepared." Iggy groaned.

"You're lucky you're hot, because this super organised thing gets annoying." I snorted.

"You wouldn't be so tired if you and Fang hadn't stayed up til midnight trying to kill each other on Halo 3."Thanks to my planning we arrived at the airport with heaps of time to spare, we met up with the flock, had some breakfast and boarded the plane by seven. Everything was going fine until the captain announced over the intercom that we were flying at a mile high. Iggy, grinning cheekily, turned me.

"Hey Violet, wanna join the mile high club?" He asked, smirking as if he knew I'd say yes, like I had the past ten times we'd gone on a plane.

"Nope." I said wiping the smirk right of his face. "I am no longer having sex you in weird places. I find that the weirder the place the less careful you are with protection." It was why our kids were conceived in such weird places. Iggy crossed his arms scowling like a little kid who had his candy taken away. He switched places with Ally so that he in the guys were sitting together and so were the girls. I had taken Luke out of his car seat and he was sitting on my lap babbling away.

"Can you say mama?" I asked him. Luke mumbled some more nonsense but ultimately couldn't say any real words.

"How about Ally?" Ally prompted him; she was sitting next to me with Typa on her lap. Luke opened his mouth as if he was going to say her name but then shoved his hand in his mouth and cuddled into my chest.

"Mummy, Viowet." Typa giggled. Luke scowled at her, using that adorable death glare that he had.

"You talk when you want to, okay?" I told him, kissing his hair. No one was going to pressure my baby into doing anything he didn't want to. The guy's conversation got loud all of a sudden and it was hard to block what they were saying.

"Iggy, do you not remember the schoolgirl outfit in the garage?" Jacob asked him and I saw Ally scowl.

"Two words dude, French maid." Iggy snickered. Well that put an end to that fantasy of his.

"I'm sleep deprived, I'm getting so much." Fang bragged.

"We did it on my desk at work." Iggy announced. For. The. Whole. Plane. To. Hear. "She strode in announced, threw me on to the desk and stared making out with me and it lead to, ah... adult things. I've being getting so much lately I cancelled my subscription to playboy." No, he didn't, I did.

"Ally told me Violet found out and cancelled for you and burned the magazines." Fang snorted.

"Psht, no. I ain't letting no woman push me around."

"Violet told Ally, who told me. You're such a liar." Iggy mumbled something unintelligible.

"What about my sister?" Fang exclaimed.

"Ignore my last comment." Iggy laughed nervously.

"I swear one of these days..."

"What are you going to do emo boy, cut me with your razor!"

"Beat you up til your face looks like a potato head doll."

"No! Not my face, it's what I use to get Violet to have sex with me!"

"Perfect!"

"Violet!" Iggy whined. "Your brother is being mean to me."

"Violet," Fang said." Your husband is mouthing off about you."

"What's he saying?" I asked.

"Things that make you suspend him from sex for six months."

"Iggy!" I yelled, "Get your skinny white ass back here right now!" Iggy came back and sat in the empty seat that Ally had just vacated, presumably to yell at Jacob about the school girl comments. This was going to be a long plane ride.

* * *

Finally after five hours of being on that plane we touched down in Honolulu. We got our baggage and immediately went to the hotel to freshen up. I was carrying Luke in my arms and he had fallen asleep when we got off the flight. Lily was stumbling along beside me, tiredly. She, like her little brother had not fallen asleep on the plane. I was planning on making her sleep when we got back to the hotel. We arrived and checked in.

"Oh my god, this is gorgeous!" I exclaimed as we opened the door to our suite. The lounge room was massive with a little kitchenette and there was a sliding door leading onto a balcony with a view of the ocean. "Can we live here?" I turned to Iggy.

"Be happy with your week." He grinned dumping the bags.

"Where am I sleeping?" Lily asked, rubbing her eyes.

"Okay, come on baby." Iggy picked her up. "Nap time."

"But I wanna go to the beach." She complained.

"You got up very early and I can tell that you are tired. I promise that I will take you for a swim the minute you wake up, deal?" Lily nodded and I followed her and Iggy into the room to the right. There were two single beds and they had set up a cot for Luke to sleep in. I put him down in it and covered him with a blanket.

"Here." Iggy said throwing me Luke's teddy bear. I caught it and put it down by Luke feet because he'd get really upset if he woke up and it wasn't there. Iggy was tucking Lily in and she had one of her soft toys in each arm. Her eyelids looked heavy. Iggy kissed her on the forehead.

"Night Princess." Iggy whispered. "I love you so much."

"Love you too daddy." Came her sleepy response. Iggy and I backed out of the room and shut the door behind us. We went into our bedroom; it had a balcony that overlooked the ocean. Iggy flopped down onto the bed.

"We should unpack a little bit." I said walking in the direction of the door to the main room. But Iggy grabbed me around the waist as I passed him and pulled me on top of him.

"Let's do something else." He growled in my ear.

"No," I giggled, trying to escape but was cut off by his lips meeting mine. We rolled around a little bit, until eventually we had switched places and I was under him. One of Iggy's hands was sliding up my leg as he kissed my neck, under the shorts I was wearing. Damn it, I knew I was going to end up giving up into temptation. Why did I have such a freaking irresistible husband?

* * *

We were interrupted an hour later by knocking on the door.

"Be there in a minute!" I shouted flying hurriedly out of bed, trying to locate all of my clothes. Iggy was slower. "Get dressed!" I hissed at him, throwing his shirt at him. I was actually searching through the sheets for my clothes. When I had finally gotten dressed, I ran for the door and opened. The whole flock was waiting there.

"What took you so long?" Nudge asked as they all came through the door and started making themselves at home on the couches. "We've been calling you guys and stuff."

"I got dis...tracted." I said disjointedly as Iggy came into the room, his hair all messed up adorably, just the way I liked it. He gave me a grin before going into the kid's room to check on them.

"We've been here five minutes and you guys can't keep your hands of each other already." Max said disapprovingly.

"He started it." I said indignantly.

"As much as I enjoy discussing my baby sister's sex life, we did come to ask you guys something" Fang began, "Do you want to go to the beach?"

"Uh yeah that'd be great, but the kids are asleep, so why don't you guys go down and we'll see you there." They all agreed to that and left to go get ready. Iggy came out of the kid's room, carrying Luke.

"Lily's still asleep, but I found this one awake playing with his teddy bear." Iggy told me handing him to me.

"Hi darling." I cooed kissing him on the nose, Luke smiled and laughed. "The flock want us to go to the beach with them, so do you want to make Luke a bottle while I get him dressed for the beach?"

"Sure." Iggy brought me over Luke's suitcase and then went into the kitchenette. I lay Luke on the couch and dug around in his suitcase for some togs. I picked out his blue ones and put them at the top of his suitcase, while I changed his nappy. I put on his togs and a t-shirt with a tractor on it. Now for the hard part. Luke hated sun block as much as his father did and squirmed around as I tried to put it on him.

"Come on Luke, stop it, you don't want to be a lobster baby, do you?" I was finally satisfied with the amount he had on when Iggy brought over Luke's bottle. Iggy sat down and Luke crawled over to him, seeing the bottle. Iggy gave it to him and I rubbed one of Luke's soft, little feet.

"Can you believe it's almost been a year since he was born?" Iggy commented, watching Luke's face as he sucked down the milk.

"And almost scared us both out of our minds." I said, putting my head on Iggy's shoulder.

"This time last year was just a mess. We are never going through that again if I have anything to do with it. I will blow up every media outlet if I have to."

"You won't have to. We're in such a different place now, as a couple and a family. It sounds crazy but the whole experience might have made us stronger."

"Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger. But I think now, we need to focus on each other, the kids and being a family." A door opened and Lily shuffled out of her and Luke's room and crawled up onto my lap.

"Did you have good sleep sweetheart?" I asked as she curled into me, still in the middle of waking up.

"Mmhmm." She mumbled into my shoulder.

"Do you want to go to the beach with the rest of the flock?" Suddenly Lily was wide awake and her dark eyes shone brightly.

"Of course mummy!" She said enthusiastically, jumping off me and dragging me into her room to get dressed. I grabbed her suitcase along the way and got her into her pink and purple togs and a pink sundress over the top. I covered her in sun block and tied her hair back so it wouldn't get in her face when she swam. We went out to the lounge.

"Sweetheart can you keep an eye on your brother while daddy and I get dressed?" I asked Lily who nodded and went to sit beside Luke. Iggy had taken our suitcases into the bedroom and I dug around for something to wear.

"Hmm, which swimsuit will be best to torture Iggy?" I wondered aloud making Iggy look up.

"One that leaves not a lot to the imagination." He suggested looking through the suitcase too. "I like this one, there's not much to this one so I like it, oh and you could never fail with the red one." He threw all the suggestions in my direction. I put them back in the suitcase.

"Go take a cold, cold shower Iggy Ride." I told him. Iggy scowled, grabbed his bathing suit and went into the bathroom. A minute later I actually heard the shower start up. I snorted and got in to my strapless royal purple bikini with the shiny gold accents. I put a white, mid-thigh length dress over top and put on dark sunglasses. I waited for Iggy to come out of the shower and when he did I pushed him down on to the bed, grabbing the sun block on the bedside table.

"Argh Violet, No!" He complained, as I sat on him, smearing the sun block all over his pale white skin.

"I don't want you to get freaking skin cancer, so stop wriggling and let me do this. There I'm done." I crawled off him. "It wasn't that bad." I got a death glare in response. I got our towels and the kids' beach toys in a beach bag and we were finally ready to go.

"Can you keep your mind out of the gutter long enough to keep an eye your daughter?" I asked Iggy scooping Luke up.

"Yes dear." Iggy grumbled, going to hold Lily's hand. I didn't like where his hands had been in the last fifteen minutes.

"Actually you take the stuff, I'll watch the kids." I said handing him the floral beach bag and holding Lily's hand. We walked down to the beach which was right on the edge of the resort.

"Hey Igella." Fang said to Iggy when he saw the bag. Iggy glared and started laying out the towels.

"Get stuffed." Iggy complained sitting down on the towel. I sat down on mine next to Ally.

"What's his problem?" She asked me looking at Iggy's sullen expression.

"Oh, he's just in a shit with me because I didn't take his fashion advice and teased without the pleasing." I giggled.

"Mummy can we go swimming?" Lily asked, sitting on my lap and cuddling up to me, acting all sweet.

"Sure baby. Luke do you want to come too?" I asked him and he nodded. I took them both down to the waves and waded around while they swam not wanting to get my dress wet or take it off and pretty much have a giant lit up sign over my head saying 'winged freak here'. Lily and Luke had a great time splashing around in the waves. Luke splashed in my direction.

"You cheeky monkey!" I laughed, splashing him back lightly. Lily joined in and my plans to stay dry had come to an end. Eventually I was dripping wet and carrying two giggling children up the beach back to where the flock were. When I got back the guys were all gone.

"Where'd the guys go?" I asked putting the kids down and getting towels to wrap them in tightly.

"They're out there." Ally pointed to where the four guys were out in the water surfing. Gazzy, Fang and Jacob were doing okay, actually really good. But Iggy was not doing well, he fell several times. It was comedic but I found see his angry expression. Eventually he got frustrated and stormed out of the water, returned the board and came over to me.

"Surfing is stupid." He grumbled. "I can't do it." he sat down next to me and I put a towel around his shoulders.

"Honey, you're not going to be perfect on the first go." Even though it wasn't his first time, he'd tried on our honeymoon; he'd failed at it then too.

"But they're good at it!" He pointed to where the other guys were still doing well.

"So, you can do heaps of things they can't. Cook, run a whole department, father children without even trying." I got a small smile out of him. I combed my fingers through his hair. "So, I was thinking that tonight..."

"Yeah?" Iggy asked looking hopeful.

"That we could have some family time, go out to dinner with the kids, watch a movie maybe." Iggy grinned.

"That sounds like a great idea, but first..." Iggy jumped up and picked me up. I knew what he was going to do.

"No, don't you dare!" I squealed. But he continued running towards the water no matter how hard I hit him. As soon as we were out deep enough he threw me into the water. I was submerged in the water. I got back on my feet and broke through the surface of the water.

"You ass!" I laughed, pushing the wet hair out of my face. "You're so dead!" I lunged at him knocking him down into the water with a splash.

* * *

After the beach I made the kids get in the bath so they could get all clean for dinner. Iggy went down to get some movies for after and make restaurant reservations.

"Ow!" Lily exclaimed as Luke reached out and yanked on one of her curls. I grabbed his hand and untangled it.

"No."I told him sternly. I picked him up out of the bathtub and got him in a towel. Enough bath time for him. I heard the front door open and shut.

"Iggy!" I called out. "Can you come get Luke?"

"Yeah!" He replied and came into the kid's bathroom. I handed Luke to him.

"His clothes are on the couch and can you get him a teething ring too. I think his teeth are a little sore."

"Sure thing." He went off.

"Are you okay darling." I asked Lily rubbing her head. She nodded.

"Why does he like hurting people, mostly me." Lily complained, as I got her out of the bath and dried her off.

"I don't know. He's in a destructive phase. He'll grow out of it."

"You know if he was a girl he probably wouldn't be so mean." I laughed and got her dressed in a white dress with pink flowers on it and combed her hair. Now we were all ready to go. I was wearing a little black dress with an empire waist that flowed in to a knee length skirt and there was a bow at the back of the dress. I had paired it with red peep toe heels to give the outfit some colour. I was wearing my hair up which was good because of Luke's hair pulling. We rounded up the boys and went down to one of the hotels restaurants, the more family friendly one since we had two children either of whom could start acting up at any moment.

"Table for Ride." Iggy told the hostess who sat us at a table.

"Could we please get a highchair?" I requested thinking of Luke who was a little piglet when it came to food. She nodded smiling and one of the waiters brought it out to us. I put Luke in the highchair and a bib on him so he wouldn't get food on his nice clothes that were clean for once. Lily and Luke got their food first so we could have them fed and happy and we could enjoy our meal. Lily chose the cheese burger and fries and Luke had the macaroni cheese and got it all over his face. Iggy, after much debate, had the prime rib and I had a burger with bacon, avocado and cheddar with a side of fries.

"Are you guys having a nice night?" I asked the kids as they were licking ice cream cones. Chocolate for Luke and Strawberry for Lily.

"Yes mummy. Thank you for taking us out for dinner." Lily thanked me from Iggy's lap which she had moved onto half way through his meal. Luke smiled too and I saw that had finished his ice cream and not all of it had gotten in his mouth. I wiped his face while Iggy handled the bill. We went back upstairs. We got them changed into to pyjamas before we started the movie so it wouldn't a hassle if they fell asleep during it. Lily curled up on Iggy's lap as soon as he sat down and held onto his shirt.

"Ig," I whispered, giving him a blanket to cover her up with. I sat down next to them with Luke sitting on me covered in his own blanket, Iggy pushed play on the remote and Toy Story began. It was a movie that both kids would enjoy as well as us adults. About halfway through, I heard a little snort and felt Luke shift ever so slightly. I looked down to see that he was asleep and was just curling up to me. Lily was still awake. I took Luke to bed so the movie wouldn't wake him up. I returned and cuddled up to Iggy and Lily for the remainder of the movie. Lily made it until the last five minutes of the movie when she dozed off to sleep against Iggy's chest. He carried her into bed while I stayed on the couch too tired to get up. Iggy came back into the room and turned the TV off.

"Do I need to carry you to bed too?" he asked with a slight laugh.

"Yes please." I smiled. Iggy lifted me up and took me into our bedroom. After getting ready for bed we got under the covers.

"I love you, my wonderful husband who can do lots of stuff." I told him snuggling into his chest. "And if Fang, Jacob and Gaz give you crap just remind them that you're paying for this trip."

* * *

The next morning we were hanging around the hotel. Lily had gotten Iggy to play dollies so they were doing that on the floor and I was engaged in a game of peek-a-boo with Luke who was laughing hysterically. There was a knock on the door.

"It's open." I called before returning my attention to Luke. The door opened and Max, Fang, Ally, Jacob, Shadow and Typa came in to our room.

"You girl." Fang taunted in Iggy's direction. Lily looked at him.

"Oh, sorry Uncle Fangy, I'm playing with daddy now but you and me can play with the dollies later." She smiled at him innocently.

"Okay Lils." He replied. I heard Iggy whisper quietly to Lily.

"Good one." And they both started snickering. Everyone came and sat down and I stopped my game of peek-a-boo with Luke to talk to them.

"So, you know how we said that one night while we were here we were all going to go out together as a group." Ally began. "Well how about tonight we go out for dinner, hit some bars. Angel and Gazzy will look after the kids."

"That sounds great."

"And I booked us girls into the hotel spa today so we can get pampered before we go out."

"That is just what I need. Will you be okay with the kids Iggy?"

"Yeah, we can go to the pool or the beach."

* * *

"Iggy and I are having another baby." I told the other four while we were getting facials. Nudge and Angel had come with us to the spa. They all looked stunned at my announcement.

"I can't believe you're pregnant already!" Ally exclaimed. I rolled my eyes sighing, I should have guessed that they'd come to this conclusion. There were similar comments from Max, Nudge and Angel too.

"I'm not." I said firmly.

"Yes, you are." Ally persisted.

"No, I'm not."

"But you have to be because... oops."

"What?"

"Nothing you won't find out."

"What aren't you telling me?"

"Nothing that you won't find out about in a few weeks." I gave her a suspicious look. I didn't trust her in the slightest.

"Well, anyway, Iggy and I are planning on having another baby in two years." Ally and Angel just snorted.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing." Ally said. "So Max how's your baby-making coming along." This I was incredibly surprised at. I couldn't believe Max wanted kids when she had basically raised five of them.

"It's not working." Max said looking embarrassed.

"Just do what I did, get drunk." I told her. As I said this Ally and Angel started giggling.

"What?" I asked for what felt like the millionth time today.

"Nothing. Tell us more about your two year plan Vi." Ally suggested.

"The kids will be older, Iggy will be more settled into his job, Lily will almost be starting school. Things will be perfect to have a baby."

"I'm sure it will be." Angel said with a smile that I just didn't trust.

"Do you two know something that will affect this?" I asked the two mind readers.

"Why would you think that? It seems like you have everything planned perfectly." Ally grinned.

"Because the red light in my head that tells me people are lying is flashing."

"I think you're imagining things." Angel said in a trustworthy voice. A tiny voice in the back of my mind was telling me that she was controlling me to get me to stop questioning them but a much louder voice told me to calm down and ignore that other voice.

"I'm so tired, maybe that's it." I admitted with a yawn.

"I'm sure that's it." Ally reassured me.

"Nudge?" Max asked. "Are you as confused as I am?"

"Oh yeah. Definately. I mean, it's pretty obvious that the two year plan isn't going to work because Iggy will screw up before then but I have no idea what they're on about." Well that makes three of us.

* * *

"Hello!" I called when I opened the door to our hotel suite after the spa day. We had massages, facials, got manicures and pedicures and it was so relaxing.

"Mummy!" Was the first thing I heard when I stepped inside. Then I was hit by two little bodies running into me with such a force it made me stagger back a few steps.

"Hi there." I said attempting to hug both of the kids equally. They each grabbed a hand and started dragging me over to the couch and when they had finally succeeded in getting me to sit, they climbed on me and Lily started telling me about their day in great detail while Luke just started babbling non-stop. It was very overwhelming. Iggy came out of our bedroom.

"Help me." I mouthed to him. Iggy ran at us and picked both kids up.

"Don't scare mummy or she might not come back from the spa next time. Go and play in your room for a few minutes." Iggy took the kids to their room and came back out not long after and sat on the couch beside me.

"How was the spa?" he asked putting an arm around me.

"Alright, I'm so tired though." I buried my face in Iggy's chest. "I think the kids have finally succeeded in pushing me off the edge."

"You were fine yesterday." Iggy commented, rubbing my back. "And I know you slept well last night."

"And I've been at a spa all day. That's not exactly tiring. I have no idea what's wrong with me."

"Are you okay to go out tonight? I'm sure everyone would understand if you wanted to stay home and sleep."

"No, everyone's excited about this. I don't want to ruin everyone's buzz. I can sleep tomorrow and what I also have to do is go spend some time with my children because I've been out all day and I will be out all night." I got up and went into the kid's bedroom.

* * *

Later that evening I was getting ready with the girls in the room that Nudge and Angel were sharing. Even though Angel wasn't coming with us she was helping us get ready. I was so tired. An hour of playing with the kids had taken any energy I had left.

"I'm not going to last long tonight." I told the others as I lay on Angel's bed. I was dressed and everything and waiting for all the others. I was wearing a white, strapless dress that fell just above the knee and there was a black pattern around hemline and there was a thick band of black under a roushed bust. My hair was curled and in a half up, half down style. Ally had a strapless red dress with a sweetheart neckline on and an elbow length, skin tight jacket. Nudge had on a knee-length sparkly brown dress. We had also forced Max into a midnight blue strapless dress that went to just above her knee. Well the others had forced, I had just watched.

"I have no idea why I'm so tired." I complained.

"Hmm." Ally said from where she was getting her hair done. "Wonder why that is." We finished getting ready and took a cab into town to a bar where we were meeting the guys but I was so tired I feel asleep on the way.

"Violet, wake up." Someone said softly as the shook me. I groaned, forgetting where I was for a second.

"Leave me alone, stupid white coats. I'm sleeping." I mumbled thinking I was five years old again.

"Lily's trying to fly by jumping off a cliff." I snapped my eyes open when I heard Ally tell me that, knowing exactly where and how old I was.

"Where?" I exclaimed looking around, blinking wildly. Finding nothing I relaxed and followed everyone in getting out of the car. We walked into the bar and got heaps of wolf whistles from the other randoms in the bar. Then our guys were walking over to us glaring around the bar. Iggy's arm slipped protectively around my waist. We went over to a booth to sit down. I was starving so I picked up a food menu and looked at all the food on it until something that I just had to have popped out at me. I flagged down a waiter.

"Hi, can I please have some of those mini hotdogs?"

"Sorry, miss we're out of them."

"What?" I exclaimed standing up and grabbing the waiters arm, tightly. "How can you not have any? What kind of service is that!" Iggy put a hand around my waist again and pulled me down back onto the seat.

"Honey, tone it down a notch." I watched as he handed the guy a wad of cash, to stop him from kicking me out. "Sorry about that." I realised how crazy I was being and frowned.

"I need a drink." I groaned sliding down in my seat.

"I'll get one for you." Ally said jumping up.

"Oh! Thank you so much!" I gushed beaming at her. She took everyone's orders and took Jacob with her to help her carry them back.

"Are you feeling okay?" Iggy asked, putting a hand on my forehead like he was checking for a fever. I pushed his hand away.

"I'm fine, okay? Just tired, other than that I feel great! So stop worrying." I told him.

"Can't. It's what I do." Iggy kissed my hair. I relaxed into him and waited for Ally to return with drinks. When she did, I took one sip of the drink she handed me and frowned.

"This doesn't taste alcoholic." I commented.

"Trust me Violet; this is the right drink for you, that's what you want to be drinking." She reassured me. She wasn't lying but it seemed to me she was skirting around the truth.

"Fine, I have to go to the bathroom." I stood up and stormed over to where the restrooms were. Why wasn't anyone being straight with me? It was pissing me off although I wondered if my bad mood and paranoia was just an effect of the exhaustion. When I left the bathroom I was determined to be a lot more level headed. I sat back now next to Iggy, talked and laughed with the others. An odd thing was is that no one ever let me get the drinks. When I asked Iggy about this he just started mumbling something about Ally and chopping boards. During the night I went through a stage where I was so tired that I was wide awake and completely energised.

"Come on guys, lets hit another bar!" I exclaimed jumping down excitedly. "We've only been to like five already, I reckon before the end of the night we can hit ten!"

"Weren't you falling asleep on me, ten minutes ago?" Iggy asked worriedly as we entered another bar.

"Nah-uh. Can't of been me! I don't get tired, I'm never tired!" I was still bouncing.

"She's worse than you are Nudge." I heard Ally whisper to the other girls.

"Yeah, I don't have crazy eyes!" Nudge said, slightly fearfully.

"I think I'm gonna call her, escaped mental patient Violet." Iggy said fondly. "She's not as great as slutty Violet, but she's got a kinda scary cuteness to her. She reminds of high Violet."

"High Violet!" Everyone exclaimed looking at me.

"You'd better have a really good reason for this." Fang growled at Iggy.

"Oh relax, I didn't get her high. It was morphine after she got shot that one time. She was in pain so they gave her some pain meds and she had no filter between her brain and mouth, she was giggly and all she wanted to do was make-out."

"Yay! That was a nice trip down memory lane... I want to dance now." I said to Iggy dragging him on to the dance floor. Somewhere after about five straight minutes of dancing, I crashed, coming down off the wide awake thing. "I'm so sleepy." I mumbled to Iggy not caring that I was in the middle of a dance floor. Iggy scooped me up into his arms.

"Okay sweetheart. You can sleep right now. I've got you." Despite the loud pounding music, I drifted in and out of sleep. I vaguely remember getting carried into a cab at some point during the night, with Iggy, Ally and Jacob and falling back asleep and I also remembered them mentioning something about Nudge going home with some guy named Ash. I woke up fully when I was taken out of the cab and I felt the cool air hitting my face.

"Wha' happening? I asked Iggy trying to wake up more. I felt less tired than I had at the beginning of the night.

"The others are all going for a last few drinks at the hotel bar but I am taking you up to bed." he told me. "Go back to sleep."

"No. I'm okay now, I had a power nap. Let's go with the others."

"Are you sure? This is coming from the girl who fell asleep in the middle of a bar. A loud bar."

"I'm okay. And if it makes you happy, I will sleep in for as long as possible tomorrow. Now can you please put me down?" Iggy put me back on my feet, I was slightly unsteady at first but I made it the hotel bar, where we joined the others and got more drinks. They all seemed surprise to see us but I assured everyone that I was fine. Ally was looking at a sign advertising Karaoke.

"OMG! Guys, we should enter that! It's tonight." She enthused.

"Ok." I said, it sounded like fun. And if I was in, Iggy would follow along.

"What about you Max?" Ally asked with a wide grin.

Max was very hesitant to answer, but finally she sighed and agreed.

"Fine, but I need another drink first."

Ally went to sign us up for a song while we all signed up for the other songs that we wanted to do. When that was all done Ally ordered three shots.

"Down them and let's get up on that stage." We drunk them down quickly nd headed over for the stage.

"What song are we singing?" I asked, bouncing on the balls of my feet, thinking I was feeling the rush of alcohol.

"Buttons, by the Pussycat dolls. It'll kill the boys." Ally giggled and I nodded.

"I can't sing that!" Max exclaimed, blushing.

"Don't worry. I know that you know the words so just sing along and have fun. Make them drool." We got up onto the stage while people cheered and the DJ announced who we were.

"Tonight we have three lovely ladies singing a sexy song. Here's Ally, Max, and Violet singing Buttons by the Pussycat dolls!" The intro began and we started to sing. This was going to be interesting.

_I'm telling you loosen up my buttons baby (Uh huh)  
But you keep fronting (Uh)  
Saying what you going do to me (Uh huh)  
But I ain't seen nothing (Uh)_

I'm telling you loosen up my buttons baby (Uh huh)  
But you keep fronting (Uh)  
Saying what you going do to me (Uh huh)  
But I ain't seen nothing (Uh)

Typical  
Hardly the type I fall for  
I like when the physical  
Don't leave me asking for more  
I'm a sexy mama (mama)  
Who knows just how to get what I wanna (wanna)  
What I want to do is spring this on you (on you)  
Back up all of the things that I told you (told you)

_You've been saying all the right things all night long  
But I can't seem to get you over here to help take this off  
Baby, can't you see? (see)  
How these clothes are fitting on me (me)  
And the heat coming from this beat (beat)  
I'm about to blow  
I don't think you know_

I'm telling you loosen up my buttons baby (Uh huh)  
But you keep fronting (Uh)  
Saying what you going do to me (Uh huh)  
But I ain't seen nothing (Uh)

I'm telling you loosen up my buttons baby (Uh huh)  
But you keep fronting (Uh)  
Saying what you going do to me (Uh huh)  
But I ain't seen nothing (Uh)

You say you're a big boy  
But I can't agree  
'Cause the love you said you had  
Ain't been put on me  
I wonder (wonder)  
If I'm just too much for you  
Wonder (wonder)  
If my kiss don't make you just  
Wonder (wonder)  
What I got next for you  
What you want to do? (do)

Take a chance to recognize that this could be yours  
I can see, just like most guys that your game don't please  
Baby, can't you see? (see)  
How these clothes are fitting on me (me)  
And the heat coming from this beat (beat)  
I'm about to blow  
I don't think you know

I'm telling you loosen up my buttons baby (Uh huh)  
But you keep fronting (Uh)  
Saying what you going do to me (Uh huh)  
But I ain't seen nothing (Uh)

I'm telling you loosen up my buttons baby (Uh huh)  
But you keep fronting (Uh)  
Saying what you going do to me (Uh huh)  
But I ain't seen nothing (Uh)

Come on baby, loosen up my buttons babe  
Loosen up my buttons babe  
Baby, won't you loosen up my buttons babe?  
Loosen up my buttons babe

Come on baby, loosen up my buttons babe  
Loosen up my buttons babe  
Baby, won't you loosen up my buttons babe?  
Loosen up my buttons babe

I'm telling you loosen up my buttons baby (Uh huh)  
But you keep fronting (Uh)  
Saying what you going do to me (Uh huh)  
But I ain't seen nothing (Uh)

I'm telling you loosen up my buttons baby (Uh huh)  
But you keep fronting (Uh)  
Saying what you going to do to me (Uh huh)  
But I ain't seen nothing (Uh)  
(Ah-ah-ah)  
I'm telling you loosen up my buttons baby (Uh huh)  
But you keep fronting (Uh)  
Saying what you going to do to me (Uh huh)  
But I ain't seen nothing (Uh)

I'm telling you loosen up my buttons baby (Uh huh)  
But you keep fronting (Uh)  
Saying what you going to do to me (Uh huh)  
But I ain't seen nothing (Uh)

We tossed our hair and danced around the stage and had a ball of fun. People cheered and applauded when we were done. By the time we were running off stage we were giggling and feeling tipsy.

"Wait right there Violet. You and Iggy are up next with Good Girls Go Bad by Cobra Starship." I got back on the stage and waited for Iggy to join me.

_(Italics-both, __**bold and italics**__-Iggy, __underline and italics__-Violet)_

_**I make them good girls go bad  
I make them good girls go  
Good girls go bad  
(Good girls go bad)**__  
__I know your type  
(Your type)  
Boy, you're dangerous  
Yeah, you're that guy  
(That guy)  
I'd be stupid to trust  
But just one night couldn't be so wrong  
You make me wanna lose control __**She was so shy  
Till I drove her wild **__**I make them good girls go bad  
I make them good girls go bad**__  
__I was hanging in the corner  
With my five best friends  
I heard that you were trouble  
But I couldn't resist__  
__**I make them good girls go bad  
I make them good girls go  
Good girls go bad  
(Bad, bad, bad)**__  
__**Good girls go bad  
(Bad, bad, bad)  
Good girls go bad**__**Oh, she got away with the boys in the place  
Treat 'em like they don't stand a chance**__  
__And he got away with the girls in the back  
Acting like they're too hot to dance__  
__**Yeah, she got away with the boys in the place  
Treat 'em like they don't stand a chance**__  
__And he got away with the girls in the back  
Acting like they're too hot to dance__**(Treat 'em like they don't stand a chance)**__  
I make them good girls go  
make them good girls go  
The good girls go bad, yeah  
__Good girls go bad  
I was hanging in the corner  
With my five best friends  
I thought that you were trouble  
But I couldn't resist  
__**I make them good girls go bad  
I make them good girls go bad  
I make them good girls go  
Good girls go bad  
(Bad, bad, bad)  
Good girls go bad  
(Bad, bad, bad)  
Good girls go**_

I know your type  
(Your type)  
You're daddy's little girl  
Just take a bite  
(One bite)  
Let me shake up your world  
'Cause just one night couldn't be so wrong  
I'm gonna make you lose control

She was so shy  
Till I drove her wild

I make them good girls go bad  
I make them good girls go bad  
You were hanging in the corner  
With your five best friends  
You heard that I was trouble  
But you couldn't resist  
I make them good girls go bad  
I make them good girls go  
Good girls go bad  
(bad, bad, bad)  
Good girls go bad  
(bad, bad, bad)  
Good girls go bad

I make them good girls go bad

The song was very flirtatious and we played that aspect up a lot. I knew that I had driven him crazy with the buttons song and I was only further reinforcing it with this song. We ran off the stage holding hands and laughing as we returned to the table.

"Next up we have Max and Fang singing a love song. Lay All Your Love On Me from the Mama Mia soundtrack."

"Seriously?" Iggy laughed as we sat back at the table.

(_**Bold and italics**_-Fang, _Underline and italics_-Max)  
_**I wasn't jealous before we met  
Now every man that I see is a potential threat  
And I'm possessive, it isn't nice  
You've heard me saying that smoking was my only vice  
But now it isn't true  
Now everything is new  
And all I've learned  
Has overturned  
I beg of you  
**__  
__Don't go wasting your emotion  
Lay all your love on me_________________________________

It was like shooting a sitting duck  
A little small talk, a smile and baby I was stuck  
I still don't know what you've done with me  
A grown-up woman should never fall so easily  
I feel a kind of fear  
When I don't have you near  
Unsatisfied  
I skip my pride  
I beg you dear

_  
__**Don't go wasting your emotion  
Lay all your love on me**_______________________________

_****_

Don't go sharing your devotion  
Lay all your love on me

_I've had a few little love affairs  
They didn't last very long and they've been pretty scarce__**I used to think that was sensible  
It makes the truth even more incomprehensible**__'Cause everything is new  
And everything is you  
And all I've learned  
Has overturned  
What can I do?__**Don't go wasting your emotion  
Lay all your love on me  
Don't go sharing your devotion  
Lay all your love on me**__Don't go wasting your emotion  
Lay all your love on me  
Don't go sharing your devotion  
Lay all your love on me_

It was very cute and not Fang-like at all. It was so funny because all the girls were sighing and probably thinking he was romantic and he definately wasn't.

"Now we have Iggy back on stage with…Jizz In My Pants."

"This is what a real man would sing." Iggy smirked. I slunk down in my seat ready for the humiliation that was about to come my way.

_Lock eyes from across the room  
Down my drink while the rhythms boom  
Take your hand and skip the names  
No need here for the silly games  
Make our way through the smoke and crowd  
The club is the sky and I'm on your cloud  
Move in close as the lasers fly  
Our bodies touch and the angels cry_

Leave this place, go back to yours  
Our lips first touch outside your door  
Is the whole night what we've got in store?  
Whisper in my ear that you want some more  
And I jizz in my pants

This really never happens, you can take my word  
I won't apologize, that's just absurd  
Mainly your fault for the way that you dance  
And now I jizz in my pants  
Don't tell your friends or I'll say you're a slut  
Plus it's your fault, you were rubbin' my butt  
I'm very sensitive, some would say that's a plus  
Now I'll go home and change

I need a few things from the grocery  
Do things alone now mostly  
Left me heartbroken, not lookin' for love  
Surprise in my eyes when I looked above  
The checkout counter and I saw her face  
My heart stood still, so did time and space  
Never thought that I could feel real again  
But the look in her eyes said "I need a friend"  
She turned to me, that's when she said it  
Looked me dead in the face, asked "Cash or credit?"  
And I jizzed in my pants

It's perfectly normal, nothing wrong with me  
But we're going to need a cleanup on aisle 3  
And now I'm posed in an awkward stance  
Because I jizzed in my pants  
To be fair, you were flirting a lot  
Plus the way you bag cans makes me bothered and hot  
Please stop acting like you're not impressed  
One more thing, I'm gonna pay by check

Last week I saw a film  
As I recall it was a horror film  
Walked outside into the rain  
Checked my phone and saw you rang  
And I jizzed in my pants

Speeding down the street, when the red lights flash  
Need to get away, need to make a dash  
A song comes on that reminds me of you  
And I jizz in my pants

The next day, my alarm goes off  
And I jizz in my pants

Open my window and a breeze rolls in  
And I jizz in my pants

When Bruce Willis was dead at the end of Sixth Sense  
I jizzed in my pants

I just ate a grape  
And I jizzed in my pants

I went to. . .  
Ok seriously you guys, can we. . . . ok?

I jizz right in my pants  
Every time you're next to me  
And when we're holdin hands  
Its like havin sex with me  
You say I'm premature  
I just call it ecstasy  
I wear a rubber at all times  
Its a necessity  
Cuz I jizz in my pants  
(I jizz in my pants, I jizz in my pants, yes, I jizz in my pants, yes, I jizz in my pants)  
Yes I jizz in my pants  
(I jizz in my pants, I jizz in my pants)

Iggy spent the whole song grinning and wiggling his eyebrows at me in a suggestive manner. I loved _Saturday Night Live_ and laughed so hard when the boys from the Lonely Island did this song but he just made it creepy.

"Violet, it's time for you to get back on up here. Let's see if you can top your husband."

I got up from my seat and went up to the stage, on my way I brushed against Iggy accidentally.

"Girl, you make me jizz in my pants." He whispered just making me shudder and want to throw up. I got back up on the stage and took the microphone as my song began.

_If you want me, a cherry on top, the pick of the peck,  
The crème de la crop.  
If you want me you better do better than that tonight.  
Oh, Oh.  
If you want me, it takes more than a wink,  
And more than a drink and more than you think.  
If you want me you're gonna have to break the bank, tonight.  
Cause some don't have the patience, some call me high-maintenance  
But you pay the bill, cause, that's the deal._

If you wanna ride, just name your price don't play cheap, with your heart  
Don't make a bet if you can't write the check, for me, for me.  
Cause I can be bought, but you'll pay the cost  
If you can afford me

If you want me, I'm not a piece of ass, a one night stand, a storage shed  
I think you better walk by, tonight  
Oh, no.  
If you want me, then stop begging I don't put out for charity  
If you want me there's no discount price tonight  
But I don't need your dollar bills I just want something real  
Cause, nothing's free, except a lovin' me

If you wanna ride, just name your price don't play cheap, with your heart  
Don't make a bet if you can't write the check, for me, for me.  
Cause I can be bought, but you'll pay the cost  
If you can afford me

If you want me, a cherry on top,  
The pick of the peck, the crème de la crop

If you wanna ride, just name your price don't play cheap, with your heart  
Don't make a bet if you can't write the check, for me, for me.  
Cause I can be bought, but you'll pay the cost  
If you can afford -

If you wanna ride, just name your price don't play cheap, with your heart  
Don't make a bet if you can't write the check, for me, for me.  
Cause I can be bought, but you'll pay the cost  
If you can afford me

The song had a lot of truth to it for me. I was high maintenance and Iggy knew that. Luckily he could handle it. I pranced around the stage and acted some of it, getting really into it. I jumped off the stage returning to the table but the next announcement made me laugh.

"Can Fang, Iggy and Jake come on up to Bust A Move!"

_Bust it_

This here's a tale for all the fellas  
Tryin' to do what those ladies tell us  
Get shot down 'cause you're overzealous  
Play hard to get, females get jealous

Okay smartie, go to a party  
Girls are scantily clad and showin' body  
A chick walks by, you wish you could sex her  
But you're standin' on the wall like you was Poindexter

Next day's function, high class luncheon  
Food is served, and you're stone cold munchin'  
Music comes on, people start to dance  
But then you ate so much, you nearly split your pants

A girl starts walkin', guys start gawkin'  
Sits down next to you and starts talkin'  
Said she wanna dance 'cause she likes the groove  
So come on, fatso, and just bust a move

Uh, hey, ya, uh, uh, hey, ya  
Just bust a move  
Uh, hey, uh, ya, uh, hey, ya, uh, uh

You're on a mission and you're wishin'  
Someone could cure your lonely condition  
Lookin' for love in all the wrong places  
No fine girls, just ugly faces

From frustration, first inclination  
Is to become a monk and leave the situation  
But every dark tunnel has a light of hope  
So don't hang yourself with a celibate rope

Your movie's showin', so you're goin'  
Could care less about the five you're blowin'  
Theater gets dark just to start the show  
And then you spot a fine woman sittin' in your row

She's dressed in yellow, she says "Hello  
Come sit next to me, you fine fellow"  
You run over there without a second to lose  
And what comes next, hey bust a move

If you want it, you got it  
If you want it, baby, you got it  
Just bust a move  
If you want it, you got it  
If you want it, baby, you got it

In the city, ladies look pretty  
Guys tell jokes so they can seem witty  
Tell a funny joke just to get some play  
Then you try to make a move and she says, "no way"

Girls are fakin', goodness sakin'  
They want a man who brings home the bacon  
Got no money, and you got no car  
Then you got no woman, and there you are

Some girls are sadistic, materialistic  
Looking for a man makes them opportunistic  
They're lyin' on the beach perpetratin' a tan  
So that a brother with the money can be their man

So on the beach you're strollin', real high rollin'  
Everything you have is yours and not stolen  
A girl runs up with somethin' to prove  
So don't just stand there, bust a move

If you want it, you got it  
If you want it, baby, you got it  
Just bust a move  
If you want it, you got it  
If you want it, baby, you got it

Break it down for me, fellas  
Huh, hey, ya, uh, huh, ooh, hey, ya  
Uh, uh, hey, ya, ee, uh, uh, uh, ya

Your best friend Harry has a brother Larry  
In five days from now he's gonna marry  
He's hopin' you can make it there if you can  
'Cause in the ceremony you'll be the best man

You say "neato," check your libido  
And roll to the church in your new tuxedo  
The bride walks down just to start the wedding  
And there's one more girl you won't be getting

So you start thinkin', then you start blinkin'  
A bride maid looks and thinks that you're winkin'  
She thinks you're kinda cute so she winks back  
And then you're feelin' really fine 'cause the girl is stacked

Reception's jumpin, bass is pumpin'  
Look at the girl, and your heart starts thumpin'  
Says she wants to dance to a different groove  
Now you know what to do, G, bust a move

You want it, you got it  
If you want it, baby, you got it  
Just bust a move  
If you want it, you got it  
If you want it, baby, you got it

Move it, boy  
Uh, uh, uh, hey, uh, uh, ya, uh  
Huh, hey, huh, hey, uh, uh, hey, ya, ya

They were good. Knowing we loved glee and that this song would drive us wild. They even did some amazing dance moves that made clap and whistle.

"Anyone else singing?" Ally asked.

"Me." Fang said, returning to the stage.

"This is our last karaoke singer for tonight. Here's Fang with Love Drunk by Boys Like Girls."

_Hey, hey, hey, hey_

Top down in the summer sun  
The day we met was like a hit and run  
And I still taste it on my tongue  
(Taste it on my tongue)

The sky was burning up like fireworks  
You made me want you, oh, so bad it hurt  
But girl, in case you haven't heard

I used to be love drunk, but now I'm hungover  
I love you forever, forever is over  
We used to kiss all night, now it's just a bar fight  
So don't call me crying, say hello then goodbye  
(Oh yeah!)

There's just one thing would make me say  
(Oh yeah!)  
I used to be love drunk, but now I'm hungover  
I love you forever, but now it's over  
(Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey)

Hot sweat and blurry eyes  
We're spinning on a roller coaster ride  
The world stuck in black and white  
(Stuck in black and white)

You drove me crazy every time we touched  
Now I'm so broken that I can't get up  
Oh girl, you make me such a lush

I used to be love drunk, but now I'm hungover  
I love you forever, forever is over  
We used to kiss all night, now it's just a bar fight  
So don't call me crying, say hello then goodbye  
(Oh yeah!)

There's just one thing would make me say  
(Oh yeah!)  
I used to be love drunk, but now I'm hungover  
I love you forever, but now it's over

All the time I wasted on you  
All the bullshit you put me through  
I'm checking into rehab 'cause everything that we had  
Didn't mean a thing to you

I used to be love drunk, but now I'm hungover  
I love you forever, but now I'm sober

I used to be love drunk, but now I'm hungover  
I love you forever, forever is over  
We used to kiss all night, now it's just a bar fight  
So don't call me crying, say hello then goodbye  
(Oh yeah!)

There's just one thing would make me say  
(Oh yeah!)  
I used to be love drunk, but now I'm hungover  
I love you forever, but now it's over

Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na  
Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na  
Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na  
Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na

Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na  
Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na  
Now it's over, I still taste it on my tongue  
Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na  
Na, na, na, na, na, na  
Now it's over

My brother could really sing, I guess everyone has a hidden little talent.

"That manly enough Iggy?" Fang asked

"Welcome back." Iggy laughed clapping him on the back.

"Excuse me guys, I've got to go organise something." Iggy said getting up and heading over to wear the DJ was. There was an exchange of money.

"Do you think he just carries around wads of cash to show off or because he constantly has to make bribes." Jacob commented.

"He has to cover for his crazy wife." Ally said. In response poked my tongue out at her childishly. "But then again, it's Iggy, he likes expensive things and he likes showing them off even more."

"His ego is the size of Texas." Max said. I shook my head.

"You see the ego. It's his facade. He's actually a very insecure person. He's always going on about how he doesn't deserve me. And I am convinced some girl did it to him. He's never said anything, but it's probably because she hurt him so bad that he can't talk about it." I was quite proud of my theory. The others seemed to be exchanging nervous glances. "What do you know that I don't?" I asked them suspiciously.

"Iggy's never been with anyone before you." Ally said.

"He had crushes, eye candy and stuff like that but nothing serious." Fang agreed.

"He wasn't a relationship kinda guy." Jacob added.

"Until he met you of course. You changed everything." Max smiled as if that comment was supposed to make me feel flattered and go off this track completely. But this wasn't over. Some bimbo had hurt him, and I was going to find out whom. But before I could pry any further, a new song started up.

"Oh my god." I whispered in amazement. "He remembered!" I stood up, feeling like I was going to cry. I found Iggy and jumped into his arms and kissed him. "I can't believe you remembered."

"Of course I remembered. This song was playing when I first kissed a certain girl. She was so beautiful and I knew that I wanted to marry her one day. Unlike a lot of things in life that I wanted to happen, this actually did." I blinked back tears.

"Come with me." I grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the bar. We started running in the direction of somewhere private but as we were sprinting along the side of the hotel pool, Iggy fell in taking me down with him. It didn't bother me and I just pulled him towards me and started kissing whatever part of him I could reach. I could feel his hand feeling around for the zip of my dress and I put one hand under his shirt and started running it over his rock hard chest. This was one of the most outrageous things I had ever done and I didn't really care.

* * *

We stumbled back to the hotel room at around two AM soaking wet. We sent Angel back to her room, got changed and crawled into bed, both falling straight asleep.

"Daddy, wake up." Lily whispered, climbing onto the bed, waking the two of us up. Iggy stirred groggily and blinked a few times. My head was aching with the beginnings of a hangover.

"Jesus Lily, its half-past four." He muttered looking at the clock. "You know you're not supposed to get up until at least six-thirty."

"But I want to play." She whined jumping on the bed.

"No, it's way too early." I told her. "Go back to bed." I just wanted to sleep til like noon.

"Nooo!" she bounced even more. "I want daddy to play dollies with me."

"I'm not going to until it's a reasonable hour." Iggy told her.

"Now come on, I'm taking you back to bed. And keep it down; you'll wake your brother up." I scolded her. I picked her up and walked through the lounge, into the room that she and Luke were sharing. But unfortunately I was met with Luke standing up in his cot, holding onto the side, wide awake. I groaned and put Lily down on her bed and tucked her in before going over to Luke and trying to get him to lie down again. But he struggled and tried to grab onto me.

"Fine!" I sighed exasperated, picking him up. I turned around to see that Lily had escaped while I was busy. I stalked into the other bedroom to find her harassing Iggy, jumping all over him. Iggy look thoroughly annoyed and was trying to get her to stop.

"He's up too?" He asked when he saw that I was carrying Luke.

"Yep. Maybe we should try to get them to settle down here." I got into bed and out Luke down next to me, while Iggy lay Lily down. But as soon as I tried to put the blankets over Luke he started kicking them off. Lily got up and started bouncing all over Iggy again demanding him to play dolls with her.

"Guys come on." I pleaded. "Mummy and Daddy are tired. Why can't you go back to sleep?"

"I don't want to." Lily told me, still jumping up and down. "Anyway it's your fault, you stayed out all night, I heard you come home really late and you woke me up."

"Darling, I'm sorry. But I'm so, so, tired and my head is killing me. I need to get some sleep. Please baby?" Lily thought for a moment.

"Okay, but can I sleep here?"

"Yeah, of course." Lily finally lay down and Luke stopped kicking. We were all soon back asleep.

* * *

But that didn't last long. At half past seven there was a knock on the door. I just rolled over, groaning. My head was worse than ever and I felt like I was about to throw up, which was weird because I never threw up when I was hung over. Lily got out of bed to go answer the door and Luke toddled after her. I pulled the blankets up over my head when Max, Fang, Ally and Jacob came into the room. They had a plastic shopping bag with them that contained food, which made me feel even sicker.

"Iggy, can you make us some breakfast?" Max asked. "Please, we brought the food." I heard Iggy exhale loudly.

"Fine but only cause I'm hungry." He grumbled getting out of bed. I slowly followed him, needing some fresh air. I immediately opened every window in the suite and the sliding doors. After awhile everyone was sitting around eating there breakfast while I curled up in a chair. When everyone finished, Lily and Luke went to play in their room with Shadow and Typa.

"Oh hey guys, I was wondering if you could watch something for me real quick." Ally asked Iggy and I. We both nodded and she put a video tape in the player and her and the others stood to the side of the TV while Iggy and I watched. It was on mute but we could clearly tell what was going on. someone had taped us in the pool last night. It was a freaking sex tape.

"I have a sex tape." I said faintly. "I have a sex tape!" I yelled this time glaring at Ally. "Why would you tape this?"

"First of all, technically, I didn't tape this, I payed a guy to, I've never even watched it. And secondly, it's pretty obvious, blackmail."

"That was supposed to be something private." I whispered. I felt upset, embarrassed, violated and like I was going to start crying. Iggy was looking at me and he ran over to the TV, ejected the tape, threw it on the ground and stamped on it.

"There, it's gone." He announced triumphantly.

"You're so naive. That's not the only copy. And before you think about ransacking our room looking for the other tapes because I've sent copies to people all over the world."

"I'm going to..." my threat started well but I trailed off because the nausea suddenly became very overwhelming. "I'm going to..." I tried again but again stopped feeling all the colour drain from my face. "I'm going to be sick." I gasped running from room. I ran into the bathroom and crouched over the toilet, emptying the contents of my stomach into it. I heard someone enter the room; they crouched beside me and pulled back my hair.

"Its okay sweetheart, get it out of your system." Iggy comforted me, rubbing my back, like he'd done countless times before. When I had finished throwing up, Iggy got a cool washcloth and wiped my face with it making me feel a little bit better.

"Can you get my toothbrush?" I asked weakly. Iggy nodded and got up to put the tooth paste on it, before helping me up and giving it to me. I brushed my teeth thoroughly just wanting to get the gross taste out my mouth. After a couple of minutes, I turned the water off, spat and put my tooth brush down. "I'm such a mess." I moaned, turning to Iggy.

"No, you're not." He told me firmly, putting an arm around me.

"Yes, I am. I'm so tired and I just threw up and my head is killing me and I'm crying." I felt a few tears slip down my cheeks.

"Okay, do you want to go back to bed?" he asked getting a nod from me in response.

"Will you be okay? With the kids, I feel like I haven't spent any time with them at all." I worried as we walked back into the bedroom.

"You can spend all the time in the world with them once you're better. We'll be fine." I lay down on the bed; it was way too hot for blankets. Iggy kissed my hair. "Get some sleep okay?" I shut my eyes and curled up. Iggy left the bedroom and shut the door behind him.

* * *

When I woke up, it was extremely quiet in the suite. I felt better after sleeping my hangover off and now I just really wanted a glass of water and something to eat. I ordered room service and drunk down about a litre of water. There was a folded piece of paper on the bench, with my name written on it in Iggy's messy handwriting. I opened it to read it.

_Vi,  
Hope you're feeling better. I took the kids down to the beach. We'll be back later this afternoon. Make sure you eat something before you pass out.  
Love Iggy._

I put the note down and went to wait on the couch for the room service because I was feeling rather faint from the lack of food. I ate the room service as soon as it was bought up to me. It tasted quite good after not eating anything all day and getting rid of last night's dinner. It was getting quite late and I was wondering when the others would be getting back. I had slept the entire day. The door opened and Iggy came in holding Lily's hand and carrying Luke.

"Hi," I said, smiling at them. Lily let go of Iggy's hand and ran over to me.

"Mummy, mummy! Are you feeling better?" she asked concernedly crawling onto my lap.

"Yes baby. I'm fine. How was the beach?"

"It was really, really fun. Daddy took us swimming and we built sandcastles."

* * *

A couple of days later, it was Lily's birthday. Iggy had gone to his conference and from what I'd heard done really well. We'd spent the days on the beach and going shopping. I had slept really late every day since I had been sick to stop myself from getting over tired. But today, I was counting on an early wake up call.

"Mummy! Daddy! I'm three now!" She exclaimed crawling over Iggy to get in between us.

"I know, happy birthday my darling." I said hugging her and kissing her forehead multiple times. She giggled and hugged me back.

"Thank you for giving birth to me, mummy." She thanked me, cuddling into my chest.

"That's okay. You were worth the twenty-eight hour labour." Iggy grabbed Lily and pulled her over him, making her start laughing again.

"Hey there, birthday girl. Did you get any sleep last night or were you too excited?" Lily had gotten out of bed several times last night, unable to sleep.

"No! I slept... a little bit."

"That's good princess. Should we get your brother up while we wait for the flock to come over?"

"Yes, I want open my presents in front of everyone." We had arranged for the flock to come over at eight so we could give Lily her presents together before going out for breakfast together. I got out of bed and went into the other bedroom.

"Luke baby, wake up." I whispered, leaning over his cot. Luke just grunted in response and buried his face in his teddy bear. "Come darling, its Lily's birthday." Luke's hand reached out to push me away. I picked him up anyway and he put his arms around my neck and rested his head on my shoulder. He was obviously still half asleep. I got him dressed and changed while Iggy helped Lily and then we got dressed ourselves. The flock arrived at eight o'clock on the dot, their arms full of presents which made Lily's eye widen, full of excitement. We sat on the couch, while we waited for her to decide whose present to open first.

"I want to open mummy and daddy's first." She announced turning to us handed over the pink envelope with a bow attached to it. Lily frowned looking slightly confused as she opened it. Inside were plans for a pink cottage-like playhouse and few photos of the completed playhouse. Iggy had hired a couple of guys to come around to our house and build it while we were away and they had completed it yesterday afternoon and emailed Iggy a couple of pictures. It was like something out of a fairytale and had furniture and everything and flowers growing in front of it. Lily jumped onto Iggy and hugged him and I tightly.

"I love it so much. I can't wait to play in it."

"I'm glad you like it." I said hugging her back. Luke made an annoyed noise and started pushing his present in Lily's direction. She seemed surprised to get one from him but opened it any way. It was a soft toy Elmo. Lily loved Sesame Street and Elmo was her favourite. Lily grinned hugging the Elmo toy and then she hugged Luke. He looked pretty smug when he saw that she liked his gift and hugged her back. Although they fought a lot you could tell that deep down they did love each other.

Lily got her next present from Nudge and Angel who had got her some new dresses. They loved dressing up Lily because she was the only one of the kids who was willing to be dressed up in pink and frilly things. I could tell by the look on Lily's face that she completely adored her dresses. Max and Fang got her a fairy outfit that included wings, a wand and a cute pink and green fairy dress. Gazzy got her a new doll and I'm pretty sure he just asked the salesperson what would be best present for a three year old girl.

"Here sweetie, this is from me, Typa and Jake." Ally said holding out a big box for Lily. Lily took it from her and tore off the paper. It was a plastic baby doll with everything a baby would need.

"Thank you!" Lily squealed and immediately opened the box to start playing with the baby.

"You're welcome." Ally smiled before looking straight at me. "I think someone else will be getting one of these things in a few months." But I wasn't really paying much attention. I was too busy to trying to stop myself from crying.

"What's up?" Iggy asked seeing my expression. I sniffed and wiped my eyes.

"Can we go talk in our bedroom?" I asked quietly. I saw that Shadow had a present for Lily so she could open that in peace while I talked to Iggy. I stood up. "Lily baby, daddy and I just need to do something for a minute, we'll be right back." Lily nodded and Iggy and I went into the bedroom shutting the door behind us. We sat on the bed.

"Okay, what's wrong?" Iggy asked stroking my hair as I leaned into his chest.

"She's growing up so fast." I sobbed as more tears fell. "Soon, she'll be going to school and get a boyfriend and go to college, so she'll move out and she's not going need me anymore and she won't be my baby."

"Violet, Violet, darling she's always going to need you. No matter how old she gets she will always need you and be your baby. Lily needs her mummy more than anything, do you remember that little baby who would start crying whenever you left the room. She's still that baby no matter how independent she tries to be. A few weeks ago, Lily tripped over on the concrete while you were out and she kept saying 'I want mummy, I want mummy'. It took me ages to calm her down. She's always going to be our baby." I wiped my eyes; Iggy had made me feel so much better.

"I don't know why I'm crying over this. It seems so silly."

"It's okay, it's an emotional day. Are you feeling better?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Now let's get back out there and celebrate our baby's birthday."

* * *

After breakfast we went snorkelling for Lily's birthday. I was on the beach, with Lily sitting on my lap, going through the rules and how to use the snorkel with her. She was going to look so gorgeous in her snorkel gear and her pink water wings that were shaped like fish. Typa and Luke were going to the resorts day care while the rest of us snorkelled, Jacob and Iggy had gone to drop them off there.

"Make sure you stay by me or daddy, we can't have you getting into trouble." I told her.

"Yes mummy. I will."

"Hey, you never told me what Shadow got you." Lily's cheeks went slightly pink and she smiled softly, playing with the hem of her dress.

"He got me blocks, which was really sweet cause we became friends when playing with blocks and what was even more special was that they spelled out our names." She was fully blushing now.

"That's so adorable." I whispered because Iggy was coming down the beach towards us.

"Daddy's coming, isn't he?" Lily guessed.

"Uh-huh." I laughed, she was so intuitive. Iggy flopped down next to us.

"How was Luke, any tears when you left?" I asked him. I had let Iggy take Luke to the day care because he was such a mummy's boy and if I had left him in the care of strangers it would be such a nightmare.

"A few, but they distracted him with some toy cars and I snuck away when he wasn't looking. He's fine, you know how is." it was time to start snorkelling. Max, Fang and Angel didn't need the gear because they could breathe underwater. We got in the water and started swimming the direction of where the resort staff had told us would be a great place to snorkel. Lily kept between Iggy and I, I was so glad that she was listening to my instructions. The terrible two's were truly over.

Lily pointed excitedly when she saw the first fish. If I didn't have the snorkel in my mouth, I would have grinned. She was happy, so that meant I was happy. It was really helpful having Angel with us, she got dolphins and fish to come near us, but kept the sharks away because Lily would have freaked even though Angel could tell it not hurt us. I knew Lily had a great time swimming around and seeing all the underwater animals. She was getting to be a really good swimmer; Iggy had taken her out in the pool at home whenever he had a chance to over the summer.

"That was so much fun!" she told me as I dried her off after snorkelling. She was smiling widely and happiness seemed to be radiating off her.

"Well, the main thing is that the birthday girl had a good time." Iggy said picking her up keeping her wrapped in her pink beach towel. We got our stuff together and went to pick Luke up.

"Hi, I'm here to pick up Lucas Ride." I asked one of the staff at the day care but Luke ran to me as soon as he heard my voice. When I picked him up he gave Iggy an accusing look that clearly said, 'you left me'. He had a painting in his hand that he gave to me. It was mostly just paint smeared on the paper randomly but I loved it.

"Oh, is that for me?" I asked Luke who nodded. "Thank you baby, I love it." it had been such a great day and I was so thankful that I had my husband, my daughter and my son.

* * *

We went out for dinner with the rest of the flock to celebrate Lily's birthday. We had a great time, but after what had happened a couple of days ago I was off alcohol. I actually felt kinda sick at the smell of it. After dinner we went back to the hotel suite to pack up our things as we were leaving first thing. I had ordered wake up calls for everyone, not that they were aware of it. Once we were done packing it was time for the kids' bedtime, Iggy had gotten them into pyjamas while I was packing up and since it was Lily's birthday, I decided to read them a story on mine and Iggy's bed. The four of us curled up together on the bed as I read the story. Luke fell asleep in the middle of it but when I closed the book Lily was still wide awake. I took Luke to bed and returned to be with the other two.

"Daddy?" Lily asked quietly.

"Yes princess." Iggy replied.

"Were you happy when I was born?" she blinked up at him expectantly. Iggy picked up our daughter and hugged her tightly.

"Of course I was, it was one of the happiest days of my life. When I held you for the first time I knew that there was nothing I wouldn't do for you. You were the tiniest thing I had ever seen, but you were so beautiful and one of the things that amazed me were your little hands. They were so small and delicate but really, really strong. You used to hold onto one of my fingers and it was hard to make you let go. You are my baby and I know some times I over react about things but it's only because I love you and I never want to see you get hurt." Lily cuddled into Iggy's chest.

"I love you daddy." She mumbled and then her eyes flicked over to me. "Mummy's crying." Iggy looked over at me too.

"So she is."

"You guys are just cute, okay?" I wailed. "It's not a crime to cry about your husband and daughter having a really sweet moment." Lily and Iggy exchanged a look and then came over to hug me too.


	15. Touchdown

**Chapter Fifteen- Touchdown**

"I cannot believe I'm sick on my sons first birthday." I complained to Iggy while I was getting back to bed after throwing up for the second time that morning. I was also tired, headachy and moody. I felt... well, I felt kinda like I had in Hawaii even though I still hadn't drunk since that night.

"It's still only five AM. He won't be up for a couple of hours. You might be feeling better by then." He comforted me. He'd been up with me, holding back my hair and getting my toothbrush ready when I needed it.

"Even if I feel worse it's not going to matter. I'm just going to have to suck it up, because today is all about him. I will be at that football game." We were driving down to San Diego to see the Chargers play because that was the team that Iggy and Luke supported and even though he was only one Luke loved sport, especially football. Just like his dad. As Iggy had predicted, I felt slightly better by the time Luke woke up. Still, horrible but not like I was constantly on the verge of puking my guts out. Iggy and I went into Luke's room together when we heard the first signs of him being awake. He had some idea that today was a special day and when we opened the door, we found him standing up in bed, looking like the most excited little boy ever.

"Happy birthday darling." I cooed, picking him up out of the cot. I gave him a massive hug. "I can't believe you're a year old." Luke beamed at me. I passed him over to Iggy.

"Hi buddy, happy birthday. You're getting so big." This was true, although Luke had been a tiny baby, he grew quickly. He was tall and thin, above the average height for his age, taking after Iggy. Iggy got him changed while I went and had a shower and get dressed in a football match appropriate outfit. We then traded so I was getting Lily dressed while Iggy had his shower and Luke played for awhile. We started sorting out breakfast after that, the flock was coming over and afterwards Luke could open his presents.

"Here let me help." I offered trying take something off Iggy.

"I have it under control; you're sick, take it easy."

"I'm not sick." I protested, stamping my foot.

"Violet, you look pale and earlier you were throwing up. Go sit down before I make you stay in bed all day and miss the game."

"Blackmail isn't nice you know. We're in a heap of trouble because of it." I retorted leaving the kitchen to go sit at the table with the kids. Luke was in his highchair, bouncing up and down with anticipation. Lily sat beside me, chatting away and all I could do was nod. Ally, Jacob, Shadow and Typa came downstairs not long after.

"Happy birthday sweetie." Ally told her godson, going over to give him a hug. There seemed to be a permanent smile attached to Luke's face. The flock arrived and I told them to add their presents to the already huge pile. We were all sitting around the dining room table, talking and laughing as we waited for breakfast to be served. Iggy brang out the bacon first. The smell of it made me gag. I jumped up from the table and shoved open a window so I could get some fresh air.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Iggy asked.

"Fine, fine, never better." I said sitting back at my seat, waving him away. He went back out to the kitchen to get more food.

"I'm sure you've gotten sick from bacon before..." Ally commented.

"Yeah, when was that like two years ago." I mused, drinking some water to make me feel better.

"Was it stomach flu or..."

"Food poisoning?"

"Nope, I don't think it was that."

"I can't think of anything else it would be."

"Serious? Nothing?" Ally exclaimed looking like her patience was wearing thin.

"Well, you don't have to be mean about it." I sniffed, tearing up.

"Throwing up, mood changes, smell of food making you feel sick, exhaustion," Ally said checking each symptom off her fingers. "Still nothing?"

"No." Iggy put the plate eggs down in front of me; the smell made me almost dry retch. "Put those eggs near me and I will cut you!" I snapped making him quickly move them to the other end of the table.

"I'm sorry." He apologised.

"Oh, its okay darling, I love you." I hugged him around the waist tightly. When I released him he sat down at the table looking slightly amused. Ally just rolled her eyes at us and muttered to Angel,

"I can't believe neither of them are seeing it."

"Especially with their track record." Angel replied. Well, now I was confused again.

* * *

At ten o'clock, we had to leave to get to San Diego and into the stadium by twelve-thirty. I was getting Luke into his car seat. He had two of his new toy cars with him that would hopefully keep him entertained throughout the drive. Iggy was strapping Lily in who had brang along some dolls to play with. She wasn't a big football fan so she was allowed to bring them into the game as long as she didn't complain through the whole game. Finally after the usual drama of getting the kids in the car we were of.

When we weren't parents, Iggy and I went on lots of road trips. We could pack up and leave in the space of an hour, play loud music and drive all night without stopping. But now we had to pack up diaper bag and get them strapped in, we couldn't listen to music because we played an audio book to stop boredom and every so often there was a 'mummy, I need to go potty' or 'mummy, I'm hungry' or 'mummy, I'm boooored'. Though I slightly missed the spontaneous road trips and having Iggy all to myself, I loved this more. No matter how many cheesy audio books I had to listen to or games of I-Spy I had to play.

About halfway through the journey, my stomach jolted.

"Iggy pull over." I choked out.

"Why?" he asked.

"Just do it!" I snapped, undoing my seatbelt. Iggy pulled the over onto the edge of the road and I pushed the car door open, leaned as far away from the car as possible and threw up onto the grass. Upon finishing, I sat up and shut the door, looking around for a water bottle. Iggy handed one to me silently. I groaned internally, he was going to treat me like I was fragile.

"Are you okay?" he asked. I finished the sip and nodded.

"I'm fine. Just keep driving."

"No! You're sick. We're turning around."

"Don't be stupid, you'll miss the game. It is Luke's birthday, I am fine. Stop treating me like I'm made of glass." Iggy sighed and started up the car again. We got to the stadium without any more incidents. Iggy got out the car first and told me that he'd organise the kids and I that I should just take my time. I ignored him and went around to open Lily's door and got her out of her car seat.

"Are you feeling okay mummy?" Lily asked concernedly as I put her down on the ground.

"I'm okay baby. Looking forward to the game?"

"No," she pouted. "I don't understand it, it's so confusing."

"I don't get it either." I took her hand and we went over to Iggy and Luke. Iggy locked the car up and put an arm around me. I was really thankful for that, his clean scent gave me a good distraction from the nausea. Except every five seconds he kept asking me if I was okay. We met up with the others and went into the stadium.

"Ugh, it smells horrible." I groaned as we sat down at our seat.

"It smells fine to me and I have the most sensitive sense of smell ever." Iggy commented me, taking the seat next to me. Luke was on his lap and they were both wearing foot ball jerseys that supported their team.

"Yeah, well you're a guy. You're always at football games." I cuddled into Iggy's side to get rid of the smell of sweat and stale beer. Iggy put his arm around me. Lily abandoned her seat and got onto my lap.

"The seat is uncomfortable; mummy is more comfy to sit on." she informed us, leaning against my chest. Luke pointed to the field and started tugging on Iggy's sleeve to get his attention. Iggy looked up and saw that the game about to start.

"Thanks buddy. I don't know why I don't take you to more of these games."

"Cause you want to get drunk with your friends and I don't let you." I reminded him. "But you know you should spend more time with time, like just the two of you. It's good for boys to spend time with their father."

"We spend heaps of time together. Like last weekend when he watched me play video games and one day I'm going to teach him how to play."

"Shh." Luke told Iggy and then focused on the game intently.

"Awh, he's already telling Iggy to shut up." Ally said looking proud of Luke. "I've taught him well." The game began and all the guys' attention turned to the field. I talked with Lily as we tried to make sense of what was happening together. One thing I did get was when each team scored. When it was Luke and Iggy's team did they both cheered and when it was the other team they booed. Near the end of the game I saw Ally rushing up the stairs away from her seat. I didn't think much of it, just snuggling deeper into Iggy's side and feeling his hand rub my arm. I smiled, despite feeling crappy I was happy to be here with my family.

"Violet," I heard Ally choke out, snapping me out of me daydream. I sat up properly and looked at her extremely distressed face. "Someone's been watching you." The whole flock went silent and stared at either me or Ally. We hadn't to deal with the whole being watched thing since last year and something about Ally's expression told me it wasn't the paparazzi this time.

"We need to get out of here." Max said in her leaderly way, taking charge of the situation, "Up and away?"

"No," Iggy said staring at me intensely as if he was about to toss himself in front of a bus to protect me. "Too obvious. If whoever they are had a weapon they could easily take her out and it'll kill the inconspicuous thing. We should just leave, discreetly. You could be in danger." He said this directly to me. Iggy grabbed my hand and picked up Luke. I held Lily's hand and the flock started slowly making our way to the parking lot. I was afraid but determined not to show it, being scared would just make Iggy fuss even more. We stopped running when we reached our cars.

"Go back home, we'll discuss it more there. It's not safe here." Max ordered. We got into our cars and hurriedly left the stadium. I noticed that Iggy was driving particularly fast and that I kept looking out the rear window to see if anyone was following us.

"Mummy, is a bad person after you?" Lily asked. I turned around to see her and there were a couple tears running down her face.

"No darling, we're just being cautious. Ally heard that someone was watching me and we thought it was the safest option to get away from whoever it was." I reached out so that I could put a hand on her leg in a comforting gesture. "Why don't you take a nap?" Luke looked as if he was headed that way to. His head was rested out the side of his car seat as he lazily played with one of his cars.

"But, what if I wake up and the bad person has captured you?"

"I promise I'll still be here. Go to sleep, sweet dreams." I turned around to face the front again and watched the two kids in the rear view mirror. They were both out within minutes, as was I. I woke up a couple of hours later when Iggy was parking the car in the garage. Silently, he leant over and pushed his lips to my forehead. It was a non-verbal way of telling me that he would protect me. The kids started waking up.

"Mummy, the bad people didn't get you." Lily said sleepily, rubbing her eyes.

"I told you I'd still be here." I got out of the car and went to pick Luke up. He was fussing slightly and I could smell the problem.

"Oh no, I think you need your nappy changed mister." I told him, checking just to be sure. "Yup, mummy's right."

"When is she not?" Iggy snorted, walking past me with Lily who still seemed to be in the middle of waking up. I took Luke upstairs to get him changed. On the way there Max told me that there was a flock meeting in the dining room in five minutes. I changed Luke and put him down in the lounge with the other kids and then joined the adults in the dining room. I sat down between Iggy and Ally. Iggy squeezed my hand underneath the table.

"Ally, exactly what did you hear?" Max asked.

"It was a guy and he was just thinking Violet's name and all these images of her when she was like fourteen." Ally said. I involuntarily shuddered when she said fourteen. Fourteen, not a good age for me. I stood up and walked over to the window, staring out of it so that no one could see how it was affecting me.

"Violet, it's going to be okay. They're not going to do anything." Iggy reassured me.

"Don't tell me it's going to be okay." I said, not turning around from the window. I blinked back tears. "Because it's not okay! Everything is good right now! We're happy and we have kids and the two year plan and your job! If this person is like a spy for some organisation who wants to use us for experiments, it would ruin everything!" Iggy got out of chair and came over to me. He put his arms around me. I turned into his chest letting my tears soak into his shirt. I stopped after about a minute, wiping my eyes and blushing, completely embarrassed about what I had just done.

"I'm going to go pick up dinner now." Iggy announced "We'll talk about this tomorrow. When it's not Luke's birthday." Iggy went out to the garage and I went into the lounge where the kids were playing. I sat down on the couch and Luke started crawling up onto my lap. I helped him up and he snuggled into my chest.

"I love you." I whispered into his hair. Ally came into the room and sat down beside me.

"You okay?" She asked. I nodded slowly.

"Yeah, I think I just had a meltdown. When you said fourteen, I kinda freaked. Some really bad, bad stuff happened when I was fourteen."

"Do you want to tell me about it?"

"Baby, go play." I told Luke, sliding him off my lap. "I was in I Tex and one day the white coats brought in this guy, he was unbelievably handsome and I feel for him, hard. We formed a really quick bond and it turned romantic. So, me and the guy, Zack, his name was, decided to escape. We were so close, I could see over the fence for the first time in my life and then the erasers came. They dragged me back to my cage and I waited for Zack to be brought back and he never came. I only found out what had happened when an eraser came to gloat about how fun it had been to tear him limb from him." That was only the second time I had told that story since it had happened. I left out the attempted suicide bit because I just didn't know how to put that into words.

"You don't have to say the next bit out loud, I understand. I probably would have done the same in your circumstance."

"I just couldn't cope anymore. But now, I can't believe how stupid I was. If I had done that I wouldn't have all this." I looked at both my kids playing happily.

"It's over now. I just can't understand why that guy would have those memories of you. I could tell he wasn't an eraser but I was sure he was some kind of mutant. His thoughts were cold and hard, as if he couldn't feel emotion."

"Was there anything in the memories that made them stand out?"

"Not really, it wasn't the same picture. It was lots of different memories of you around that age. They were close though, as if he didn't stand to far from you when they happened."

"The people who took 'care' of me were not big on personal space. It could have been any of them." I sighed loudly, looking down at my lap. "I cannot go through this crap again"

"Actually, there was something funny about the pictures which makes me think that it wasn't a scientist. In some of them you were looking right at the person and you were smiling. It wasn't sarcastically either, it was as if you were close to them."

"That sounds strange, there was only one person who I would have been like that with at he's dead." I choked out the last word.

"I don't know who it was but whoever it is, I wouldn't say they were nice to anyone and has a noticeable cruel streak."

"Seems about right." I heard the garage door open and a car park. "Hey guys dinner's here." I told the kids and thy all started running for the kitchen. Ally and I followed after them and I found my two practically attacking their father to get the food of him. Iggy was holding it up high. "Lily, go sit at the table and wait." I said pushing her in the direction of the dining room and picking up Luke and putting him in his high chair. Iggy brought out the food and started dishing it out, giving everyone what they wanted. After everyone had finished I helped Iggy take all the dishes and rubbish to the kitchen.

"How are you feeling?" He asked.

"I'm fine. I told Ally about everything that happened with my ex and it brought up some unpleasant memories but I'm okay." I started getting out all of the stuff for ice cream sundaes which we would be having with the cake. The cake was a piece of art that Iggy had worked on all last night. It was in the shape of a blue car that Luke would just adore and it had 'Happy Birthday Luke' piped onto it in green and a candle in the shape of a one in the middle. Iggy lit up the candle and I took all the dessert stuff out to the dining room. I got Luke out of his high chair and put him onto my lap. Iggy brang out the cake and put it in front of him.

When Luke saw the cake his eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. We sang happy birthday to him and with a little help he blew out the one candle and the flock clapped loudly. We started cutting up the cake and serving ice cream with chocolate sauce and sprinkles.

"Here, give me Luke." Iggy offered. "I want to spend some time with my son." I smiled handing Luke to Iggy and starting to get myself some ice cream and cake. In the middle of that I heard the doorbell ring.

"I'll get it!" I told everyone going through the dining room to the entrance way. I opened the front door and almost fainted from seeing who it was.


	16. Balancing Act

**Chapter Sixteen- Balancing act**

A man with dark brown hair and bright green eyes was standing on my door step. He was tall, thin and handsome. I thought that maybe I was hallucinating because this person had been dead for almost eleven years. A ghost, maybe?

"Zack?" I asked faintly, reaching out to touch him to make sure he was really there. I could feel his arm underneath my fingertips.

"Hey Violet," He said, giving me a white toothed grin.

"You're here. I must be dreaming..."

"This isn't a dream. I'm really here." I kinda threw myself at him, hugging and hitting him at the same time, all while bursting into to tears.

"How could you- What- You have got so much explaining to do!" I bawled.

"I know I do. I have a lot to tell you and I'm going to. I promise." He'd also promised me that he'd be by my side as long as he lived but I trusted him enough to know that he must've had a good reason for what happened. "Long story short, the white coats have a lot to do with it, I will explain more but, god I just missed you so much."

"What the hell?" Iggy yelled abruptly. I let go of Zack and turned to Iggy who looked livid, and I guess I could understand with what he'd just seen. He was holding Luke who looked confused and had blue icing, ice cream and chocolate sauce on his face.

"Ig, this is Zack, remember? My ex-boyfriend." Iggy blinked in surprise a couple of times.

"But I thought he-" Iggy began, then trailed off looking dumbfounded.

"He's alive! Oh! Zack this is my husband Iggy. He's part avian like I am. And this is our son Luke." Luke clung to Iggy and started acting uncharacteristically shy.

"You're married? With a kid?" Zack asked as Iggy put his arm around my waist.

"Two kids actually, we've got a daughter too." Iggy said.

"I gotta say, I'm surprised." Zack teased, raising an eyebrow at me. I reached out to shove him lightly.

"Shut up! C'mon, you have to meet everyone else." I grabbed his arm and pulled him into the dining room. He looked around the room and seemed to freeze when he laid eyes on everyone. "What?" I asked worriedly.

"Nothing." He assured me. "Why don't you introduce us?"

"Uh guys, this is Zack, he's an old friend of mine. We were together in the school." I told him who everyone was and then told the flock about what had happened, glossing over certain details that I wasn't comfortable with everyone knowing about. After that was done I took Zack into the lounge so he could tell me what the hell had gone on.

"So, I guess I've got to explain what happened." he said slowly, sitting down on the couch.

"You'd be right there." I agreed. "This had better be such a good reason or else you coming back for the grave won't last for very long."

"Well, as soon as we got separated the erasers tied me up and put me up in a van and they just drove for days, at least I think it was days, time was really hard to judge then. I ended up somewhere in the north of Canada. It was freezing wherever I was; they just tested me and tested me. They told me that you had been killed, then the next day that you were alive, trying to really mess with me and I didn't know what to believe." His face seemed haunted by the memory. I knew how he felt but I had something- someone to take all that hurt away from me.

"But eventually they decided to tell me that you were alive and they showed me pictures of you, you looked miserable and I promised myself that I would get out one day and get back to you. I was up in the Canada research station for about two years and then I was just moved from lab to lab because the lab was in kept either getting shut down or went into bankruptcy. So they would sell me off to the highest buyer and I'd go to the next lab. This went on for about five years until I was in a lab in Belgium. The lab got raided by police and while all the chaos was going on I escaped. I wanted so much to come back but a few of my contacts told me to stay overseas and keep on the move."

"Yeah, that probably was the best thing to do." Especially as since at that time, Lily had just been born and I was newly married.

"I stayed overseas for a few years until I got the okay to come home. And now here I am."

"Sweetie, I'm sorry you had to go through all that." I said holding onto his hand. He frowned slightly.

"Since when do you call people sweetie?"

"Since I'm a mother and I have to patch up skinned knees and make up bedtime stories."

"It just doesn't sound right. So tell me about what's been going on in your life." I launched into a full description about the last eleven years. Zack frowned the whole way through.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I guess, I just never pictured you as a mother." He shrugged.

"I- uh- I didn't either but now I can't really picture my life without them. I'm still the same person."

"I don't really think you are." An awkward silence fell on us until Iggy interrupted it.

"I'm putting Luke to bed." He said bluntly. Luke was already in his pyjamas and falling asleep with his head on Iggy's shoulder.

"I should go." Zack said standing up. "I'll call you." We had exchanged phone numbers and stuff like that earlier.

"Yeah, I-" Before I could finish my sentence, he hugged me tightly. It lasted, a long time, until I pulled away. I looked around for Iggy and found that he had left the room. I walked Zack to the front door and then went up the stairs to Luke's room; I paused in the doorway when I saw Iggy putting him in bed.

"Goodnight kiddo. I hope you had a really great birthday, despite everything that happened. I heard that the chargers won, so that's good, even though we missed the end of the game. I bet one day you could play for them if you wanted to. Have a good sleep." Iggy pulled the blankets up over Luke, tucking him in. He turned around to see me in the doorway. We made eye contact for a brief moment.

"Iggy..." I began, but Iggy just walked past me, not saying anything. I guess this would take a bit of adjusting for him. I went into Luke's room and stood by his cot, he was still awake, looking up at me smiling. I stroked his hair.

"I love you my big one year old. More than anything. Sweet dreams." I leaned down to kiss him on the forehead and left the room turning out the light. As I shut the door I heard Ally whisper,

"Violet," I turned around to see her exiting Typa's room obviously having just put her to bed.

"Hi," I greeted her happily.

"I know that you're obviously happy about what happened but just be careful." She told me as we started going down the stairs.

"What do you mean?" I asked confusedly.

"His thoughts are confusing; I can't get a clear read on him. I don't trust him."

"Ally, I know Zack, he's a great person there's nothing to worry about." I brushed her off and left her standing at the foot of the stairs. I had something I needed to do. I opened the door that lead down to our basement and stepped over the gate that stopped Luke from getting down the stairs on his own. He had a habit of sitting at the top of the stairs and throwing stuff down them to see what would happen. Mostly Typa and Lily's toys. I went down the stairs into the basement. It was very much Iggy territory. There was a TV, a couch, a pool table and stacked storage boxes, which is what I was most interested in. the basement was Iggy's man cave/our storage space. I looked at all the labelling on the boxes looking for a certain one, until finally I found the one labelled 'Violet's stuff, don't touch!' and retrieved it from the pile. It was between one labelled, 'last season's shoes' and another labelled 'stuff that has been set on fire.'. I carried it over to the couch and tore the tape off it so I could open it.

It was filled with my old diaries from when I was in the school. I had been told to keep them as a part of my psychological assessments. When I broke into the school prior to finding the flock, I took them with me. I sorted through the diaries of ages eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen until finally I found the one that I wanted age fourteen. I flicked through it reading certain entries properly, especially the ones after Zack showed up. I groaned when I saw that I had drawn hearts around his name. One sentence seemed to pop out at me, _"I bet that Zack would make really cute babies, not that I want babies or marriage, I'm an independent woman who will never be tied down." _Naive young Violet. But then at the end of the last entry before he died there was a paragraph that broke my heart.

_Tomorrow we're going to be free finally. I have attempted this so many times but this time I feel like it's going to work, maybe it's because I'm not alone anymore, I don't know. We want to find the flock but after we get out of this building which has been my life long prison. I really don't care where we go. Because I know that I'm going to be okay, if I'm with him._

There were pages of nothing after that. I flicked through them, trying not to cry but losing that battle miserably. I sniffed as I found the next entry, months after the last one. It was cynical and sarcastic representing how little hope I had. That was the last entry except for address and numbers scrawled down during my time on the run. I sat there for awhile thinking about what had happened. Eventually I put everything back in the box and returned it to the pile. I left the basement and went upstairs to my bedroom. Iggy was on the bed with Lily on his lap, who was dressed in her pyjamas and pink bunny slippers and had her soft toy pig tucked under her arm. They were watching the Simpson Movie and were up to the famous spider pig song. I sat on the bed beside them but they were both so engrossed in the movie they didn't notice.

"Daddy, homer's putting his piggy on the ceiling!" Lily giggled, pointing at the screen.

"Should we put Mr Snuffles on the ceiling?" Iggy asked her.

"Is that even possible!" Lily gasped. Iggy paused the movie and got off the bed. He picked up Lily and her pig, one in each arm. Lily laughed and hugged Iggy as he pretended to make Mr Snuffles walk across the ceiling. Iggy sang the spider pig song too.

"_Spider Pig, Spider Pig.  
Does whatever a Spider Pig does,  
Can he swing from a web?  
No he can't, he's a pig,  
Look ooouut!  
He is the Spider Pig."_

The song was met with more giggles from Lily. He should have sung _that_ song at Karaoke.

"Daddy, you're like Homer!" She exclaimed as Iggy handed her back 'Spider Pig'. Iggy pretended to be offended.

"I'm not fat and bald!"

"No, but you're silly and I'm like Lisa cause I'm smart and Luke is like Bart cause he's annoying and makes troubleand mummy is like Marge cause they both like to clean." I wasn't sure how I felt about that.

"Alright then, Lisa Simpson, it's bedtime for you. You and daddy can watch the end of the movie tomorrow." I said, taking her from Iggy. He gave me an extremely guarded look; we definitely needed to talk later. I took Lily to the toilet and made her brush her teeth. She wanted to be carried to bed when she'd finished, so I scooped her up again.

"Mummy, I have to say good night to Shadow." She said sleepily, resting her head on my shoulder.

"Okay baby," I went down to Shadow's room and we went inside. Shadow was getting tucked into bed by Ally. "Hi, Lily just wanted to say goodnight." I put her down on Shadows bed and Ally and I watched as they hugged each other and talked. "Come on, sweetie time for bed." I told Lily after a couple of minutes.

"Nooo." Lily whined starting to cry.

"Darling, you're so tired." Lily pouted.

"Fine, but daddy has to sing the spider pig song again." I picked her up and cuddled her.

"I'm sure he will." I whispered as we went to her room. Iggy was in their getting Lily's bed and soft toys ready. He had pulled back the covers so that I could put her in. Iggy pulled off her bunny slippers and I put her down into to bed. Iggy sang the spider pig song like she wanted him to. Soon enough she was asleep and we left the room slowly.

"I guess this means mummy and daddy duties are over for the night." Iggy commented, we went back into our room and sat on the bed. I was feeling quite tired by now.

"They're never over. Hey, I wanted to talk to you. Are you okay with Zack being... well, alive."

"I'm glad that you're happy but I just want to know where this leaves me." I shuffled over closer to him and put my arm around him.

"This leaves you as the person I love most in the world, my beloved husband and the only guy that I want to have mind-blowing sex with." And we proceeded to do just that.

* * *

The next day, on Sunday afternoon for, Zack called me and invited me out for lunch the next day. I had to bring the kids with me but I was sure that they would be very well behaved. I had also been sick on Sunday and Monday morning. It was driving Iggy crazy with worry but after I had thrown up a few times I was pretty much fine. At the moment I was wondering what to wear, looking through my racks of clothes. Finally I found the perfect light blue, short baby doll dress with thick straps. I paired it with white ballet flats and moved onto my hair. I blow dried and curled it loosely, clipping the front bits back. I applied some light make up and was already to go. I grabbed my bag on the way out of the room and went to get the kids from the lounge.

"Ready to go?"

"Yes mummy," Lily said jumping up off the couch and running to my side. Luke didn't move from his spot on the couch, where he was drinking a bottle, he had only recently woken up from his morning nap and the heat was bothering him too so he was quite cranky. I went over to pick him up off the couch. He cuddled up to me and I grabbed the bottle for him to finish in the car. Lily ran out to the garage and we followed her out. Lily got into her car seat but as soon as I tried to put Luke down into his he started screaming.

"Luke, shh, it's okay, it's okay." He started shaking his head and crying louder. I put the bottle in his mouth and held it as his cries softened. When he'd finally gone quiet, I strapped him in and shut his door after giving him a fleeting kiss on the forehead. I buckled Lily in and we were finally on the road. When we parked at the cafe Luke started crying again when I got him out of the car. I soothed him again and held Lily's hand as we went to find Zack. He had a table outside for us so we could sit in the sunshine.

"Hey," I said sitting down with Luke on my lap.

"You brang your children." He seemed surprised as he watched Lily climb up onto the seat beside me.

"Yeah, Iggy's at work."

"So he goes out to work while you look after the kids."

"He got lucky and got a job, I don't have qualifications or any actual skills. If the situation was reversed he'd do the same for me." Luke suddenly flung his hand out pushing Zack's water over and getting Zack wet. Lily and Luke both laughed while I started apologising.

"Luke, baby." I sighed as Zack went off to dry himself off in the bathroom. "You have to be careful with water. What if the glass had broken?" Luke just gave me a cute little smile making me want to give him a hug. He snuggled into me. Zack returned to the table and raised his eyebrow.

"He just deliberately knocked over water and now you're cuddling him." he looked disapproving.

"I don't think he did it on purpose. You're not in a happy mood, are you?" I cooed to Luke.

"Daddy!" Lily exclaimed, jumping out of her chair. I saw Iggy and Ally coming towards us. What the hell were they doing here? Luke squirmed off my lap and ran to his father as well. Iggy picked both the kids up, hugging them. They both looked thrilled to see him.

"Fancy seeing you both here." Zack said sounding annoyed.

"Just popped by for some lunch. You don't mind us joining do you? Good." Ally said sitting down on one side of me. Iggy sat on my other side with both kids on his lap.

"Hello my hot as wife whom I had amazing you-know-what with for the past two nights." Iggy said and I giggled.

"Isn't that demeaning?" Zack glared at Iggy.

"Nah, it's just Iggy." I shrugged and then blushed "Plus it _was_ amazing."

"Damn right it was." Iggy told me, leaning over to kiss me. "Love you." He whispered against my lips.

"I love you too." We broke apart.

"Aren't they just the cutest couple." Ally told Zack. "No one can break them up."

"Are you sure that no one would be better for her." Zack argued.

"No one. Ever. And if someone tried to break them up then they would end up in a world of hurt."

"I doubt that." Zack snorted.

"Hey Violet, did you ever tell Zack about how I can kill a person with just a flick of my fingers?" Ally asked.

"Nope." I said shaking my head.

"It's awesome and scary at the same time." Iggy chipped in.

"I mean, if I can do that imagine how much pain I could cause if someone tried to hurt my family." Ally joked laughing.

"Yeah, not to mention my fire powers and my insane jealousy." Iggy added joining in the joke.

"Plus the fact that my husband who would do anything thing for me, can just create a black hole."

"Teddy would get angry if mummy and daddy broke up and teddy is not nice when he's angry, right daddy." Lily said her eyes innocently shining up at Iggy.

"Yeah and teddy doesn't like Zack does he?"

"Nope, he told me so but he loves you daddy, like I do." Lily cuddled up to Iggy.

"Love you too princess."

"A teddy, like I'd be scared of that." Zack snorted.

"Sucker."

"So, what are you guys doing here? I thought you two hated each other's guts with a burning passion?" I asked Iggy and Ally.

"It's our monthly lunch when Ally and I are both working and we go out and talk about the rest of you guys." Iggy told in a matter-of-fact kind of voice. Lunch was weird; Iggy spent it all with his arm around me and Ally talking about her various powers and how dangerous they were. The kids were perfectly behaved and sat on Iggy's lap chatting away to him. I lost count of the amount of times that Lily said 'daddy I love you' and how many times Luke buried his face in Iggy's chest. I kinda just wanted it to end.

Finally everyone's food was gone and Iggy's was helping me get the kids back in the car. Lily and Luke would probably fall asleep on the way home, they both looked so sleepy. Ally and Zack had already gone and I would be driving Iggy back to work after the kids were safely in the car. We strapped them in and then Iggy pulled me close to him.

"Just know that I love you more than anything and I'd do anything for you." He whispered against my forehead.

"I feel the same way about you."

"Good, go home and get some rest. You're sick."

"Stop treating me like a baby!"

* * *

On Tuesday, Zack and I went out for lunch again and this time we didn't get interrupted, I got Ally to look after the kids but on Wednesday when I was about to ask her if she could she was nowhere to be found so I called up Max and Fang and got them to take them for a few hours while I went around to Zack's new house to check it out. It was a great house but he had no furniture. Luckily for him, I loved to decorate houses so I promised him that I would take him furniture shopping.

I woke up wrapped in Iggy's arms early on Thursday morning.

"Mornin' darlin'." He greeted me with a fake southern accent, kissing my forehead. I smiled at him and then frowned as I was hurriedly trying to get out of his arms. I sprinted to the bathroom and threw up in the toilet. I was crying by the time I had gotten it all out of me.

"Vi, Violet, sweetie." Iggy whispered, pulling me back onto his lap and stroking my hair.

"I'm fine." I spluttered.

"No you're not. You've been sick six days in a row."

"It's only in the morning, by lunchtime I'm fine-" I was cut off by the need to be sick again. I crawled towards the toilet again. After ten minutes Iggy was dragging me back into bed.

"Look, why don't you have a day in bed, you're obviously not well. Ally can keep any eye on the kids while you get some rest." He started tucking me back into bed.

"No. I'll be okay, mum's not working today and she wants to have them, so I'll drive them around there and then I have the day to myself."

"Okay, just look after yourself. I can get the kids up, take your time." He went off to get ready for work. I lazed around in bed for another hour until Iggy brought me some toast with butter for breakfast in bed.

"I have to get going now. The kids are all ready to go. I love you." He leaned down to kiss me on the forehead.

"Bye honey, love you." I slowly began eating the toast so that I would keep it down. After that I got up and got ready for the day, just throwing on denim shorts and a white singlet with sandals to drop the kids off. I went down to the lounge. Ally and Jacob were sitting on the couches together while the kids played on the floor.

"Good morning," I said to Ally and Jacob, before turning to Lily and Luke. "Lily and Luke, we're leaving for grandmas now, grab some toys that you want to take." They got their toys together and soon enough we were on the road.

"Mummy, are you going to stay at grandmas with us?" Lily asked as I stopped at a red light.

"No, baby. Mummy's not feeling well so I'm just going to pick up some groceries and maybe go home and take a nap. I'll pick you up this afternoon, okay?"

"Okay," Lily sighed. She didn't sound very pleased with me. We arrived at mum's house and I unstrapped the kids letting them run up to the house. I took their car seats with me in case she wanted to take them out. The kids had knocked on the door and she had answered and was giving them hugs. I dropped the car seats inside the door and turned to hug my mum.

"Hi mum." I grinned hugging her.

"Hi sweetie." We pulled out of the hug and she looked at me frowning. "Are you feeling okay, you look rather pale." She started feeling my forehead.

"Muuuum, I'm fine." I whined stepping out of her reach. "Stop fussing." God, everyone was treating me like I was some fragile piece of china.

"I'm your mother I'm supposed to worry." I rolled my eyes and the realised I was exactly the same with my own children.

"Okay, well here's all the stuff that they need, the car seats are there and I'll pick them up around four-ish." I handed over the bag I had over my shoulder. I said goodbye to the kids and got back into the car. As I was about to start up the engine my cell phone started ringing. I picked it up and opened it.

"Hello?"

"Uh, hey Violet. What's up?" it was Zack.

"Nothing much. I just dropped the kids of at their grandmothers and now I have the day to myself."

"Do you think you could help me? I've gone furniture shopping and I'm completely lost." There goes my day to myself.

"Sure thing, where do you want to meet?"

After a whole day of furniture shopping I saw a clock and realised that it was half past four. I hadn't been to the grocery store and we weren't even halfway through getting Zack's furniture shopping. I called Iggy.

"Hello, Iggy Ride speaking."

"Hey honey, it's me. I'm out shopping and I was wondering if you could pick up the kids on your way home from work? I still have to get groceries."

"Sure darling. I love you."

"I love you too, bye." I called my mum to tell her that Iggy would be getting the kids and we resumed our shopping.

I finally got home at around six; I ditched Zack ten minutes after I got off the phone with my mother and rushed to the grocery store. I managed to get around it quite quickly but there were huge lines and traffic was so bad. But eventually I was parking in the garage and bringing the groceries inside. When I got inside I immediately felt bad for staying out so long and loosing track of time. Iggy was attempting to cook dinner and comfort Luke who was in tears. He looked very stressed and overwhelmed.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong?" I asked taking Luke from Iggy, who mouthed 'thank you'.

"He fell over like ten minutes ago and hasn't stopped crying since." Iggy explained.

"Oh, baby, where does it hurt?" Luke pointed at his elbow and I kissed it better for him. It calmed him down and he cuddled up to me for awhile. After a few minutes he started wriggling out of my arms and ran off to go play. I went into the dining room where Ally was supervising Lily and Shadow who were drawing pictures.

"Hi darling, what are you drawing?"

"There's daddy and Aunt Ally and Luke and Shadow and me..." she pointed everyone in the family except for one.

"Where's mummy?" I asked.

"Oh, these are only people who have been around." I was stunned and felt immediate guilt. Lily gave me and icy glare and then turned to Ally smiling. "Aunt Ally! Aunt Ally! Look at my picture; it's got everyone who loves me in it." That broke my heart. But instead of just walking away like I normally would, I ran out of the room, crying. Like a baby. Was she crazy? Of course I loved her. I collapsed onto mine and Iggy's bed, sobbing, unable to calm myself down. Iggy knocked on the door after half an hour.

"Vi, it's time for- hey what's wrong?" he sat down on the bed and started rubbing my back.

"Lily doesn't think I love her. She drew a picture of all the people who loved her and I wasn't in it."

"She knows you love her she's just being a three year old. Listen Violet we need to-"

"How could she think that I don't love her? I told her this morning, I tell her everyday."

"Violet, I think you're overreacting because you're tired. I think you should get an early night, I'll bring dinner up for you." He kissed me on the forehead and left the room. I was asleep before he could bring me my food.

* * *

The next day, I tried to get back into Lily's good books. She hadn't spoken to me all morning so when she was playing with her dolls in her room I took my chance.

"So I guess you're not talking to me." I said sitting down on her bed. There was only silence from her. "And there's nothing I can do to change that?" More silence. "Okay, well Luke and I are going out for ice cream, I guess you don't want to come, I'll see you later." I stood up and then Lily ran to hug me.

"I love you mummy." She said. "I wanna come with you." I had just bribed my child to talk to me. It was bad parenting but successful. We went to a little ice cream parlour in town. I let them get whatever they wanted and we sat at a table eating it. Luke had a bib on to stop him from getting ice cream all over his t-shirt. Lily had told me what she wanted and thanked me but had said nothing to me after that. I guess it was going to take more than ice cream to win her over. Luke was the only one talking and what he said wasn't even real words. After twenty minutes of getting nothing out of Lily we got back in the car and went home.

I got the kids down for naps and went to take a sleep myself to satisfy Iggy's worrying. I was just about to drift off to sleep when my cell phone started ringing. I opened it without looking at who was calling.

"Hello." I answered sleepily.

"Hey Violet, are you okay?" Zack asked sounding concerned.

"Uh yeah, I'm fine, just tired. What's going on?" I yawned.

"Well I was going to ask if you wanted to go out to dinner tonight, but if you're tired..."

"No, no, I'll be okay, that sounds lovely. Um should we meet at like seven." We sorted out where we were going and hung up. I called Iggy next and told him I was going out tonight, he sounded weird when I was talking to him but he said he was okay with it even when I tried to press for more details. After I had sorted that out, I finally got to take my nap.

* * *

As soon as Iggy got home at half-past five, I started getting ready. I showered and curled my hair, pinning up one side of it but letting the other side of it hang over my shoulder. I wore a sliver dress with a ruffled skirt and a ribbon around the waist. I wasn't sure about wearing it because it was quite short but then I decided not to care. I'd had a shotgun wedding and been in a sex tape so wearing a slutty dress wasn't going to change much. I rummaged through my shoes until I found some black heels to go with it. I applied some make up and finally after an hour of getting ready, I was ready. I went downstairs to say goodbye to everyone. They were all eating their dinner.

"I've got to get going now, I shouldn't be too late maybe around ten-ish." I told Iggy, kissing him on the cheek.

"Okay, well if you're going to be late just call me."

"I will, love you."

"Love you too." I went over to Lily and kissed her on the forehead but she just jerked away from me. I sighed, going over to Luke giving him a hug and kiss goodbye. I grabbed my clutch purse and was out the door. I drove into town and navigated through the traffic to get to the restaurant. Zack was waiting for me at a table for two that the hostess led me over to.

"Hi." I greeted him smiling, taking my seat and picking up a menu.

"You look amazing." He told me making me blush. "You're not that fourteen year old girl who hated the idea of dressing up."

"No, I'm not." I put down my menu and turned serious for a moment. "Do you ever think that your life turned out in a way that you didn't ever expect." He quirked an eyebrow.

"I got taken from my family when I was a fourteen years old kid. I didn't expect to have not gotten back in contact with them after eleven years."

"You still haven't contacted them yet?" I asked in awe.

"I wanted to see you first." The waitress came over and we placed our orders and got some drinks.

"You're not drinking?" Zack asked seeing my plain glass of water.

"Not at the moment. We're in Hawaii a couple of weeks ago and we had a huge night out and I was so hung over the next day. Ever since I have just not been able to drink."

"So how did your life turn out that you didn't expect?"

"Well, everything about it. I'm married, I'm a mother, I have a stupidly cute house that screams cliché. I was rereading those journals they made me write for the psychoanalysis thingy and everything I wrote, I really can't relate to it anymore. I never wanted any of this stuff and some people would kill for it."

"I'm sure you're still the same person. I know it's not what you expected but your happy, aren't you."

"I guess, I love Iggy and the kids but... I don't know... maybe I don't want to be _just_ a mother or a wife." I shook my head feeling upset. "I'm sorry, I'm complaining. Can we talk about something else?"

After dinner, it was still quite early so Zack suggested we go back to his house. I agreed because I wasn't quite ready to go back home yet. I followed him there in my car. I saw that he had a lot of his new furniture set up and complimented him on it. He made popcorn and we sat around watching movies and talking about anything other than what had been discussed earlier in the evening. Part way through one of the movie I dozed off against one of the couch arms. I woke abruptly hours later.

"What's the time?" I asked blearily.

"Uh about half past two in the morning."

"Crap, I should head home. Thanks for the really nice evening." We said our goodbyes and I went back out to my car. I play music loudly to keep myself awake during the drive home; all I really wanted to do was crawl into bed. I parked in the garage and opened the door quietly, sneaking up the stairs and to my bedroom. The door was shut and when I opened it I found Iggy sitting on the bed with his arms folded, looking angry.

"What time do you call this?" he snarled.

"I'm sorry; I didn't know that I had to run everything by you." I hissed in response immediately feeling furious.

"You could have at least called! I have been dying with worry."

"Well I was fine! Stop treating me like a child!"

"You know what; you are acting like one. You cannot do this!"

"Do what? Leave the house?"

"Spend all your time away! I don't care if you go and have a good time, but you are not an unattached teenager. You are a mother, with kids who need you! There is a reason why Lily isn't talking to you!"

"Who are you to tell me what I can and cannot do? Stop acting like a controlling psychopath." Iggy stood up grabbing his pillow.

"I can't stand to be around you. I'm sleeping in the spare room." and with that he stalked out of the room.


	17. Lies and Broken Hearts

**Chapter Seventeen- Lies and Broken Hearts**

Iggy didn't talk to me all day, nor did anyone in the house for that matter. I had spent the morning running from bed to the bathroom to throw up. I got up at around five in the afternoon after sleeping on and off for thirteen hours. Dinner had been a silent affair with no one saying much. I was currently cleaning up the dinner dishes.

Ally and Jacob were off in their room doing god knows what and all the kids were in bed. I put the last dish in the dishwasher and put it on. Iggy slouched into the kitchen with a sullen expression on his face. He opened the fridge without even acknowledging me.

"Hello. I'm standing right here." I said waving my hand in front of his face. He looked up at me glaring.

"What?" he grumbled.

"Well, it would be nice to hear a 'Hello Violet. How was your day.' or even a 'thank you dear for cleaning up the kitchen.'"

"Oh, right." He looked around "Thanks."

"What is your problem with me?"

"You know, or actually you wouldn't because you never spend any time at home anymore."

"I've been out with a friend a few times. I'm sorry I have left you to look after your own children for the first time in three years!" Iggy slammed the fridge door closed.

"I always look after them! Especially now, that Zack is back around and you drop everything whenever he calls up with a restaurant he thinks you'd like or tickets to the movies! If I didn't know any better I would say you were having an affair!"

"I can't believe we're having this discussion! You jealous hypocrite!"

"Hypocrite?"

"You think I can't see you looking at those... beach bunnies whenever we go to the beach! Because you are so wrong! How can you accuse me of having an affair when you drool after anything in a bikini? You don't get how hard it was when they took him away from me. You've never had your heart broken."

"How do you know I don't know how it feels?" He demanded seeming angrier than ever.

"Because you never went out with anyone other than me." I told him in a 'duh' kind of tone.

"That's what you think." Iggy muttered.

"So there was someone before me? Who was it then?"

"It doesn't matter." He said turning away from me. I was so not satisfied with that.

"If it doesn't matter why can't you tell me?"

"I just can't, it's not safe?"

"Oh not with the it's-not-safe crap again."

"I'm not going to put you in danger because of a stupid mistake!"

"Why the hell would this put me in danger."

"Violet, you don't know what type of situation you're putting me in! You knowing could put your life in danger because of my past."

"What happened to being honest with each other? It was in our freaking wedding vows for god's sake."

"I just can't tell you okay! I would if I could!"

"You obviously don't honour our wedding vows then."

"Violet..."

"There's no point of me sticking around here." I grabbed my car keys of the bench and opened the front door. I heard hurried footsteps coming down the stairs. I took one look back to see Ally and Jacob burst into the kitchen.

"Violet, wait!" Iggy yelled.

"Goodbye Iggy!" I slammed the door and ran to my car with tears threatening to spill over. I started the engine and started driving away. I looked back at the house and saw Ally watching me out the window. We made eye contact for a moment before I looked away from her, feeling ashamed. Despite still being angry, I was starting to regret everything I had said. But for some reason I kept driving. My stupid pride.

The radio was blaring and unfortunately the song that I first kissed Iggy too started playing. I started crying so hard that I knew I couldn't keep much control of the car. I pulled up onto the shoulder of the road and pulled the breaks on. I leaned against the steering wheel, sobs racking through my body. Stupid, stupid Violet, I thought to myself. I strayed parked on the side of the road until I managed to calm myself down. I decided that I couldn't go home, I need time to get my head together so I drove to the first place that I thought of. I parked in front of it and ran up to the porch and rang the doorbell. It opened almost immediately.

"Violet..." Zack said, looking shocked to see me.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know where else to go." I sobbed and Zack hugged me.

"What happened?" He asked.

"Iggy and I had a huge fight. And I walked out on him. We've never fought like that before. It was horrible."

"Come inside." We walked inside and sat down at the kitchen table. "Do you want a hot drink of something?" Zack asked, I shook my head letting my hair fall over my face. "It might make you feel better.

"Nothing will make me feel better." I sniffed.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?"

"We just started yelling at each other, it's been building up for days, and then he let it slip that he'd been with someone else before me and I got angry with him for not being straight with me. They all keep secrets from me and when I call them out on it, they try and change the subject or run away. They're hiding something big from me and every time I get close to finding it out, they lead me in the wrong direction. And whenever I try and find out on my own by eavesdropping they catch me. I know it's wrong but what other choice do I have. They won't tell me and I'm killing myself with worry by not knowing." I hung my head. Then I felt a hand rest on top of mine.

"I understand. You don't have to make excuses for me. You want a marriage where equal effort is put in. there's nothing unreasonable about that."

"But he does put in equal effort. He's so spontaneous and I love that, always springing holidays and stuff like that on us. How could I do that to him?" I was so furious at myself. "I need to go home and apologise."

"Maybe you should let him cool off first." Zack suggested. "Stay here tonight." I didn't really like the thought of spending one night away from my husband and kids. All I wanted to do was go home and apologise to Iggy.

"I really don't-"

"He's probably still pretty pissed and you're really upset. It'll be easier to talk tomorrow without getting all the emotion in the way." I looked into his eyes and something just told me to trust him. So I nodded.

"I think I just need some sleep. Uh, where am I sleeping?"

"You don't want to say up and watch TV or something."

"No, I'm so tired." Zack seemed reluctant as he showed me where I was sleeping. I said goodnight quickly and shut the door. I had meant what I said about being tired and I really just wanted to be alone. The room I was staying in had a bed, a dresser, a couch, a TV and an ensuite. I got ready for bed and got under the covers. It was a perfectly nice bed but it wasn't my bed and as much as I moaned about Iggy's snoring, I actually missed it. I wondered if he'd ever take me back after this. I wouldn't blame him if he wanted to end it; I had been a crazy bitch and a very neglectful wife over the past week. What was the point of him being honest with me if I wasn't even around? All I had cared about was that Lily was angry with me and I hadn't even thought about how this would affect him.

I felt a few tears slip down my cheeks as I realised that I was even more in the wrong than I thought I was. If Iggy was crazy enough to forgive me I would spend every day of my life making it up to him. I hoped that Ally and Jacob were keeping him company and that I hadn't hurt him too much. But I knew that I had completely crushed him.

* * *

Despite my exhaustion, I had a terrible sleep. I woke up in tears several times after very bad dreams. One involved me and Iggy trying to negotiate our divorce and I woke up after I had told him I love you, over and over but he never seemed to hear. I woke abruptly from that one and turned on my side, feeling tears drip out of my eyes. My stomach shifted and I flew out of bed and into the bathroom. I crouched over the toilet, puking my guts out. I had to hold my own hair back and went I was done I had wipe my own face. I didn't have a toothbrush so I was left with a disgusting taste in my mouth. But that didn't really matter because I was back over the toilet within a few minutes.

I slept on a folded up towel on the bathroom floor when I could. I felt worse this morning than I had all week, maybe the lack of sleep and guilt was adding to it. Eventually my stomach settled and I was able to starting getting ready to go. I left the bathroom and went back into the bedroom. There was a folded up towel with a toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste that were both brand new on it. I took a shower and got myself cleaned up after the morning's events.

Brushing my teeth took me awhile. I wasn't going to stop until I got the taste of it all out of my mouth. I was wearing the same clothes as yesterday, I was deathly pale and my hair was a mess. It showed how much of a mess I was without Iggy. One night without him and I had fallen to pieces. If he didn't take me back, I shuddered to think about what would happen. I decided to make the bed and clean up the room I had stayed in a little bit, just to be courteous.

All the time I was cleaning was spent planning what to say to Iggy when I saw him. I need to tell him how sorry I was and at the same time say how much I loved him. I just hoped m temper wouldn't get the better of me ever again like it had last night. I really needed to get a better handle on that. I hadn't been myself the past few days so maybe that was adding to it. After the room was satisfactory I went out to thank Zack for the place to say and then I would be heading home, to beg and grovel as much is it took.

"Hey Zack," I said finding him eating lunch at the dining room table, it was that late.

"Morning, feeling better?"

"Yeah, thanks for the toothbrush and stuff."

"No problem, do you want some lunch?"

"No thanks, I should really head home. I need to make things right again."

"Maybe you should stay for some lunch, you haven't eaten all day and I know how much food you need."

"I can eat at home. The longer I leave facing up to what did, the worse it's going to be. I'll see you round maybe, thanks for everything." I wasn't going to be spending as much time with him as I had been. I needed to focus on my family now. I gave Zack a small wave and turned to leave out front door.

"Violet! Wait!" Zack called running after me, I stopped just next to the front door. Zack approached me and then did something surprising.

"I still love you." He blurted out, "The only thing that got me through all that happened was the thought that one day I'd get back to you."

"Zack I-" I began but he cut me off.

"I want us to be together a lot. And I know you want this too." I took in a breath, thinking carefully about how to phrase my next sentence.

"Your right." I stated simply, keeping emotion out of my voice. "I do want to do this." he started leaning in to kiss me. I braced myself for what I was about to do next.\


	18. I'm sorry is the hardest thing to say

Chapter Eighteen-I'm sorry is the hardest thing to say

I wrenched away from Zack and aimed a perfect kick at him right where the sun don't shine. He fell over on to the ground writhing in pain.

"What was that for?" he exclaimed. I crossed my arms and glared at him with the look that always made Iggy cower.

"For trying to kiss me!" I snapped back.

"I used to kiss you all the time!"

"So what! That was when I was fourteen and we were a couple of kids locked in the school together. Now I'm married to a great guy and we have two children together. I love them all so much and am not about to give up something that great for you. I thought you were dead. I moved on. Don't just think you can turn up on my doorstep eleven years later and I'll just run into to your arms and pretend nothing has happened turning my back on my husband and kids. It doesn't work that way! Iggy is my husband and the only man permitted to kiss me! Got it!"

"But Violet, I thought you loved me. We were good together."

"Exactly. I did love you and we were good together. I just don't feel that way about you anymore. And I love Iggy more than I ever loved you!"

"You're making the wrong choice."

"Like your opinions matter!"

"You wouldn't have come here if you and Iggy hadn't of argued. Your subconscious is telling you that you want me."

"Oh cut the crap! You've become so full of yourself." I turned on my heel and left careful to slam the door loudly behind me. I ran towards my car, unlocking it. My phone was lying on the dashboard. I picked it up and opened it. I had about twenty text messages and fifteen missed calls from Iggy. I felt guilty as I flicked through the messages. He'd been sending them all night. I threw the phone down onto the passenger seat and started the car. I drove quickly but when I was halfway home I heard sirens behind me. I looked in the rear-view mirror and saw a police car tailing me.

"Shit." I swore under my breath as I pulled over getting out my licence and registration. The officer approached me and I rolled down the window.

"Miss, do you realise that you were going 20 miles over the speed limit."

"Uh no sorry officer." I apologised politely. I handed over my licence and registration when he asked for them.

"I'm going to have to write you a ticket." He said, scribbling on a piece of paper. I wanted him to go faster and just give me the damn ticket. I had to sign it before he gave it to me along with my licence and registration. "Stick to the speed limit, from now on." He ordered, walking away. I put all the stuff on the front seat and started the car again. This time, I was careful to stick to the speed limit. Finally the familiar driveway came into view and I turned down it, hearing the gravel crunch beneath the tires. I stopped sharply and ran up the porch steps, speeding ticket in hand. I had the perfect thing to say but as I burst into the lounge and saw Iggy being consoled by _Ally_, it all disappeared from my mind as I nearly collapsed from the guilt. I blurted out the first thing that came into my mind.

"I got a speeding ticket." I could see that Ally was giving me a nasty glare, but I didn't care. All I could focus on was Iggy. His hair was all messy and he had dark circles under his eyes, like he hadn't slept. He gave me this heart-broken look, what had I done? I started babbling, "I'm sorry." Over and over, while tears poured down my cheeks. Iggy came over to me and pulled me into his arms.

"Shhh, Violet. It's okay."

"N-no, it's not! You should hate me!" why wasn't he yelling at me, kicking me out of the house, telling me that we were over. Ally stalked out of the room.

"I couldn't hate you." He sounded calm and forgiving. I was so happy he was forgiving me but if he yelled at me I'd probably feel better about what I'd done.

"I feel horrible, I am horrible. And your just taking me back with open arms." I was still blubbering like a baby, I couldn't seem to stop. Iggy led me over to the couch so we could talk.

"Where did you go last night?" Iggy asked.

"I-I went to Zack's house. I should have turned around the minute I walked out the door. I spent the whole night feeling horrible and this morning I threw up heaps and then he was acting all sympathetic and he went and got me a toothbrush and then he tried to kiss me and I kicked him in the balls and blew up at him and then I walked out because I only want you to kiss me." Iggy leaned down to kiss me. Unlike with Zack I let him and kissed him back, I put my arms around his neck. It felt like I was truly home.

"I love you." He said, not lying at all.

"I love you too, you insane person."

"Insane?"

"You're taking me back. After what I did, I didn't think anyone would."

"We're Violet and Iggy. We fight, we get over it. Plus you kicked a guy in the balls for kissing you, that's pretty awesome."

"Don't try to brush this off. I hurt you. I mean, Ally was comforting you!"

"As hard as this may be to believe, we can get along."

"I know, I just feel like I let everyone down, especially you, how could I even think of throwing this away. I am so, so sorry I hurt you and I hate my-" Iggy put his finger on my lips silencing me.

"I get why you did it. I need to tell you... about my first girlfriend."

"You don't. There's obviously some reason you couldn't tell me and I respect that. It doesn't matter."

"Yes, it does. I was trying to protect you. Telling you would mean putting you in danger. But not anymore. I can tell everything to you now." Iggy put his arms tightly around me and I sat on his lap my head on his shoulder. He took a deep breath before beginning. "About a month or so before you turned up in my life, there was someone else. Someone that I was wrong about. We were staying at a beach-cabin like thing. This was when Ally and Jacob were with us.

"A few days after I turned fifteen, we all went to the beach. Being the unattached bachelor I was back then I decided to hit on some beach bunnies. Using the blind guy trick." I raised my eyebrows at him. "Don't ask. I was young and stupid. I asked out this girl called Courtney. At the time she was everything I wanted in a girl. Blonde, stupid and easy. This was when you were still a figment of my imagination.

"Courtney and I went out for a few weeks. During that time, she started driving a wedge between me and the flock. I was oblivious to it. I was even dumb enough to ignore the flock telling me she was evil and pushing us apart. One night they sat me down, before I was supposed to go out with Courtney, and they told me exactly what they thought of her, how mean she was and that she was saying things to them when I wasn't around. Needless to say I was furious and walked out on them unable to believe them.

"I went to Courtney's house to pick her up for the date and she had a whole army of beach bunnies with her. The overpowered me and tied me up. They took me to a clearing and then the flock showed up. Ally and Courtney fought and Ally won. Jacob made a black hole and all the beach bunnies got sucked into it. Except for Courtney she escaped and to this day I don't know where she is. And I hope I never do." He dropped his head; a trace of hurt long forgotten seemed to be in his eyes.

"Oh, sweetie I had no idea." I never pictured to be Iggy to be the type of person to get their heartbroken. "We have more in common than I thought." I laughed, Iggy looked up confused. "We both were unlucky in love, until we found each other."

"I wasn't unlucky, just stupid." Iggy mumbled. I pulled his head onto my chest and stroked his hair. Courtney had been the one that made him like this, the low-self esteem beneath the cocky exterior. I hadn't met her but I wanted to hurt her, as much she hurt him.

"What did she do to you?" I asked appalled.

"She used me to get to the flock, almost killed me, hit on Jacob right in front of my face and called me a blind idiot. I guess that last one was justified, I must have been a blind idiot to fall into her trap." Iggy laughed weakly. "Everyone else saw what she really was but I couldn't."

"You cared about her. You saw her differently to the others, I understand, I so, so understand. Sometimes people don't turn out to be who they appear to be."

"But I knew that! I'd been through that before with Jeb and Anne Walker and my parents, I should have known!" Iggy obviously had kept this bottled up for years and it was all finally coming out. And why am I taking this out on you. You weren't even there." Iggy looked upset with himself.

"Iggy stop that! What that bitch did to you was not your fault. I don't get how you can take me back after walking out on you but after all these years you can't forgive yourself after all these years!"

"You're doing the same thing, you're blaming yourself and then I tell you how I almost got everyone killed because of my manwhoring and you don't even care!"

"Don't call yourself a manwhore." Suddenly, something occurred to me. "That scar on your neck. She did that didn't she, that's why you couldn't tell me. That bitch tried to kill you." I got up off Iggy.

"What the hell are you doing?" He asked.

"I'm going to hunt her down and kill her." I growled storming towards the door.

"Violet, it's okay, I don't even care about her anymore. All I care about is you." I stopped and turned around, returning to sit on Iggy's lap. "I am honestly over her, the minute you came into my life, none of that mattered anymore." Like how a lot of the pain from Zack's 'death' went away after I met Iggy. I would have said this was cheesy, but maybe, love could conquer all.

* * *

Iggy and I sat on the couch, cuddled up together, not saying a word for a long time. Then Lily walked in to the room.

"Daddy, can I..." She stopped abruptly when she saw me. A lot of emotions crossed her face until it stopped on anger. "I'm so angry at you mummy!" She yelled. "You weren't here when I woke up and you're always supposed to be here, to give me a good morning cuddle and no one would tell me where you were and daddy was really upset!"

"Lily," I said quietly, getting off Iggy and approaching her.

"No, I want Aunt Ally!" she ran out of the room leaving me in tears. Iggy silently made me sit on the couch again.

"My daughter hates me." I whispered into his shoulder.

"She doesn't hate you. She's upset, she'll get over it."

"No, she won't. Ally's mad at me too; I bet everyone's mad at me. I don't blame them."

"Wait here." Iggy got up and left the room. He returned soon after carrying Luke, who seemed as if he had just woken up from a nap. He didn't look mad at me at all, he grinned when he saw me.

"Hi," I greeted him as Iggy put Luke onto my lap. Luke hugged onto me tightly. "I missed you." Luke started babbling away as if nothing had happened. "Hey, shall we play with the cars." Luke nodded and got of my lap and held my hand. We went into the other lounge to get his cars and found Lily sitting on Ally's lap. Ally gave me a glare when I walked in. Lily looked up at her and then tried to imitate her. They both looked like they were fuming. Luke clung onto my hand tightly, we got the cars and we left the room quickly. Luke sat on the ground next to Iggy and they started setting up the car set. I went and got some ice cream and lay on the couch stuffing my face miserably as I watched them play.

Suddenly I saw Iggy's jaw go rigid and his fists clench.

"What?" I asked, following his gaze out the window, where I saw Zach getting out of his flashy sports car. Iggy stood up and started storming towards the front door, looking ready to punch his lights out. I followed after him, unsure of what to do. I didn't want them fighting. Iggy wrenched open the door and went to stand on the porch glaring at him.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Iggy asked. Zach came up the stairs, smirking at Iggy from behind sunglasses. I was hiding behind the door so he couldn't see. But I was ready to break up a fight at any moment.

"Just let me talk to her, Ride." He said snidely, standing face to face with Iggy. Iggy lashed out and shoved him, Zack doing the same thing in retaliation. I rushed out and put myself between them putting one hand on each off their chests, pushing them apart.

"Stop it!" I yelled. I took my hand off Zack and started gently moving Iggy away from him. "He's not worth it." I told Iggy, putting a comforting hand on his arm. I saw that the Ally and Jacob had appeared in the doorway and were watching the scene. Lily and Luke were standing in front of her looking scared. I gave them a reassuring smile, which didn't seem to calm them.

"Yeah, do what your wife tells you." Zach taunted, making Iggy move to throttle him again. I restrained him and as soon as I was sure he wouldn't lash out again, I turned to Zack and walked up to him.

"Please go. We can talk later." I tried to get him to leave.

"No, I need to get this out in the open now." He said angrily.

"My kids are just over there. They don't need to hear this."

"That's my point! You've gone soft! If erasers were just to drop out of the sky right now, you couldn't do shit! When I left you, you were strong and brave and I return to find you shacked up with some manwhore with a couple of kids."

"You've seriously crossed the line." Iggy snarled, standing in front of me protectively. "You don't get to insult her and you don't get to swear in front of my kids." But I knew he was right, I didn't know how well I'd do against erasers and even I hadn't expected this kind of life for me.

"What did you need to tell me?" I asked quietly, stepping in front of Iggy.

"I'm surprised you never worked it out. They said you were smarter than that." Zack said smugly.

"Worked what out?" I asked ignoring the insult.

"That it- us was all a test."

"W-what do you mean?" I stammered.

"They created me for the purpose of testing your emotional state. All the stuff I told you about being taken from my family was complete crap. The test was to see how you react to having a mate and subsequently getting it taken away."

"No! You're lying. I would have picked up on all that!" I protested, not wanting to believe it.

"They also created me with the ability that I could lie without you detecting it. It was necessary. You need to leave all this behind and come with me now if you've got any chance of passing this test."

"The thing is," I began, struggling to keep the emotion out of my voice. "I don't care about passing those tests and I wouldn't trade this for the world. You are dead to me." I looked over at Iggy who seemed to be having some kind of mind conversation with Ally. Suddenly they started advancing on Zach, both having determined expressions on their faces. I couldn't stand being here any longer; I couldn't look at him anymore. I turned and pushed my way through everyone without saying a word. I went upstairs and into my bedroom. I shut the door behind me and sat on the window seat, crawling up into a ball. I didn't want to feel anything. I couldn't deal with that pain.

* * *

"Violet?" Iggy's voice broke through my subconscious. I had been sitting on the window seat for over two hours now. I looked up to see Iggy standing in the doorway, he immediately looked worried. "Sweetheart, this isn't healthy." He said, closing the door and coming over to sit next to me. I gave him a blank look, not understanding what he meant. "This, trying not to feel anything, because the more you put off dealing with this the harder it's going to be." how did he know me so well? "I know what you're going through. You've been betrayed by someone you care about and that everything between you was all a lie. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm here for you." I stared into his eyes for about a minute.

"It hurts." I whispered, letting the pain flow freely.

"I know, I'm here." Iggy pulled me onto his lap and held me tightly as I broke down in his arms.

"He's such an ass." I sobbed, not bothering to hide anything from Iggy. "How could I have believed him, I'm so stupid."

"No, no, you're not."

"Yes, I am. I believed him and got sucked in his lies. I didn't know, I didn't know..." I couldn't talk anymore I was crying too hard.

"This is good, getting it out is good. If it makes you feel better Ally and I kicked his ass."

"Ally did?" I asked, she hadn't even been talking to me two hours ago.

"See, some good things are happening."

"I'm j-j-just so angry. How could he do that to me!" I lashed out angrily, punching a wall and then clutching my fist in pain. "I didn't put a hole in the wall did I?" I worried looking at Iggy.

"I don't care about the wall, let me look at your fist." Iggy started examining it. "It's not broken, but maybe bruised. But I think you're going to live. As much as wish you hadn't hurt yourself, I'm glad you're getting the anger out." I went quiet and crawled onto Iggy again, needing the comfort his arms provided, more tears spilling over. Iggy sat patiently with me, rubbing my back and whispering words of comfort as I clung to him.

"How did you cope, with her being what she was?" I asked when I had managed to calm myself down slightly.

"The morning after I felt great, I was back with the flock and that made me happy. But then that night I lay in bed thinking about it and it hurt like hell. I started taking the words she said seriously and I felt like a blind idiot. I stayed in that mood for a few weeks."

"What happened then?"

"Well, you came along and made every bit of pain Courtney cause me go away." I looked at him for a minute; then put my hand on the back of his neck and pulled him down to kiss me. It was short but sweet. As we pulled apart, Iggy whispered.

"Come on lets go downstairs. Ally's telling me in my mind that the flock have bought dinner." I shook my head.

"No, everyone will think I'm stupid for falling for his lies."

"They won't, I'm sure they're just worried about you." I stood up reluctantly and Iggy put his arm around me tightly making me feel safe. I rested my head on his shoulder. When we entered the dining room, I didn't meet anyone's eye and just sat at my place and stared down at my food. While everyone started eating and talking, I just pushed my food around my plate with my fork.

"Mummy!" Luke said making me look up, over to where he was in his highchair. I blinked a couple of times.

"You just talked!" I stood up in shock.

"Mummy!" He repeated grinning. I went over to him, scooping him out of the high chair and hugging him. "Mummy, mummy, mummy, mummy!"

"I'm so proud of you, my clever little boy." I kissed his forehead. Him saying mummy had cheered me up so much.

"Can you say daddy?" Iggy asked. Luke gave an evil looking smile in Iggy's direction.

"Awwy!" He laughed. Ally looked incredibly proud of him and Iggy just scowled.

* * *

After dinner, Iggy and I were playing with Luke. Lily was off playing with Shadow, she hadn't said a word to me yet. We were sitting on the ground. Luke would attempt to crawl away from us Iggy would grab him and pull him back to us, resulting in shrieks of laughter from Luke.

"Alright, alright." I said stopping them after about the twentieth time. "Playtime's over boys." Luke started shaking his head in protest. I stood and picked him up "Yes, it is baby. Iggy, can you make him a bottle and I'll meet you up in his room."

"Sure thing darling." Iggy got to his feet, kissed me on the forehead and left the room. I took Luke upstairs and started getting him ready for bed. Iggy entered the room as I was buttoning up Luke's pyjamas.

"You know, I've missed this." I told Iggy.

"Missed what?" Iggy asked, handing Luke his bottle and putting his arms around my waist.

"Just being a mother. I haven't done that a lot this week. I've also really missed doing my wifely duties too."

"Oh really, maybe you could some of those wifely duties tonight."

"Maybe, but that's enough dirty talk around the baby. He's starting to talk now and he's very, very impressionable." I took Luke over to the chair so he could finish his bottle. Luckily he was starting to settle down. Soon enough we had him tucked up in bed. I shut the door to his room and Iggy and I went down the stairs hand in hand to find Lily waiting at the bottom.

"I want to talk to you." She told me, not showing any emotion on her face. She'd obviously been taking lessons from Fang

"I'll leave you both to it." Iggy chuckled going into the back lounge where all the other room.

"So what did you want to talk about?" I asked Lily crouching down to her level.

"You haven't been very well behaved this week."

"I totally agree with that."

"And when I'm naughty I have to go sit in the naughty corner." I suppressed a groan, knowing where she was going with this.

* * *

I sat, cross-legged in the corner of the room, staring at the wall paper. I still had ten minutes left sitting here.

"Violet? What are you doing?" I heard Iggy ask from behind me.

"I'm in time out because I have been naughty."

"Yeah, you're a naughty girl." Iggy said, his voice dripping with innuendo. "I should sp-"

"Later, I can't. I need her to talk to me. Just wait until I've made up with her and then I'm all yours." Iggy sighed and left the room. I waited another ten minutes before I heard someone else speak.

"You stayed?" Lily asked incredulously. I turned around, still sitting to see her standing there wide eyed.

"Of course I did." Suddenly Lily ran into my waiting arms.

"Don't leave me." She mumbled into my shoulder. I could feel her tears soaking into my shirt.

"Of course I'm not going to baby." I whispered, holding her close, pretty close to crying myself. "I love you too much to ever even thinking about doing that. I'm so sorry that I upset you."

"It's okay, I'm just happy your back to normal."

* * *

A couple of hours later the kids were all in bed, the adults were watching TV and I was sitting on the kitchen bench eating ice cream. Ally came into the kitchen, got out a spoon from the cutlery draw and sat up on the bench next to me, sharing the ice cream. She hadn't spoken to me since yesterday.

"You okay?" she asked breaking the silence.

"I think so. It was hard to deal with but I'm going to be fine." I sighed. "Did he love her?" I asked, knowing that she'd get that I was talking about Iggy and Courtney.

"I think he did. Actually, he loved who he thought she was, even though he was blind, he really suited the love is blind quote. She faked innocence that he couldn't see."

"How did he cope."

"He acted like nothing happened but you could tell he was crushed. I read in his mind that he thought that no one would ever love him again."

"What was she like."

"She was sneaky and smart even though she acted like a dumb bimbo. They had stupid nicknames for each other. Iggy boo and Courtypie." The nicknames nearly made my nausea come back.

"Thank god he grew out of that before we started dating. What did she, uh, look like?" I was curious about that, I wanted to know how much prettier than me she was.

"She had long blond hair, bright green eyes, tanned, tall, perfect amount of freckles on her nose, supermodel perfect." I frowned, she was perfect. "You've got nothing to worry about, I don't think now he'd go near her with a ten foot pole. Besides, he's way happier now than he ever was with her." I smiled at her and jumped off the bench to go see Iggy. Ally followed after me but I stopped in the doorway.

"Who didn't use a coaster!" I snapped. Everyone looked at Iggy who blushed and slouched down in his seat. "So you want the coffee table to get ugly rings on it!" I was getting totally worked up over it and crying. I realised how silly this was and sat down next to Iggy brushing the tears away.

"Sorry, I overreacted" I apologised.

"Are you alright?" He asked concernedly.

"Yeah, yeah, I don't know why I'm getting so worked up maybe I'm just PMSing..." I trailed off as everything clicked into place. My period was two weeks late, I was throwing up in the mornings, tired, emotional. I gasped and ran out of the room to find a calendar to check the dates. I found one in the kitchen and looked at last month, counting obsessively, trying to prove myself wrong.

"No, no, no." I wailed to myself, when I couldn't. I was freaking pregnant. I couldn't deal with this. It was way too soon. Way, way too soon. What could I do? I knew I needed a pregnancy test. I didn't want to talk to anyone about it now. What excuse did have to go out in the middle of the night. I decided that I only had one option. I went upstairs and got into my pyjamas, which consisted of pyjama pants with strawberries on them and one of Iggy's hoodies, which was huge on me. I brushed my teeth and went downstairs again.

"I'm going to get an early night." I told Iggy, leaning down to kiss him on the forehead. "Night, I love you."

"Love you too."

"Night everyone." I said to the room, turning around and trudging up the stairs again. I returned to my bedroom, turned off light, pulled back the duvet cover and got into bed. I rolled over onto my side and squeezed my eyes shut as tears leaked out of my eyes. I cried for an hour until I managed to drift to sleep.

* * *

The next morning I lay in bed except for the times when I had to throw up. I stayed really still while Iggy got ready for work. The whole time my hand was rested on my stomach and I was fighting back tears. Iggy left the room obviously thinking I was still asleep. Then he had left I let the tears fall because I just couldn't hold them back anymore. Ally walked past my bedroom and when she saw how upset I was she stopped.

"What's wrong?" She asked coming to sit on the bed. I sat up slowly.

"I think I need to take a pregnancy test." I told her in a really tiny, scared voice.

"You don't need to bother with the test." Ally said very gently.

"W-what do you mean?"

"I can tell there's a second mind in you."

"Oh god." I moaned, falling backward on to the bed and bursting into fresh tears. "I can't do this."

"Of Course you can Violet. You've done twice and you can do it again! I'll help you through it and if Iggy's a jerk at any point you can tell me and I'll throw him off a cliff with his wings tied to his body so he can't fly."

"I'm not ready; I wanted a baby in two years!"

"Violet, I know. But sweetie, you're a great mother. You're going to be fine."

"I need to tell Iggy before he goes to work. Can you come with me, it's not that I want be restrained from killing him, I just really don't want to hurt the baby."

"Oh honey, I'll hurt him for you."

"Thank you so much." I said sitting up and hugging her tightly. Then I realised how gushy I was being. "Sorry, it's the hormones."

"I know, I've been through it. " We went downstairs and into the kitchen where Iggy was finishing up the breakfast dishes. Ally blocked the door to the garage so he couldn't escape.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" He asked.

"Like an idiot." I stated simply.

"Why?"

"Because I keep making the same mistake over and over."

"What do you mean." Iggy stopped what he was doing and looked at me.

"I'm pregnant."


	19. Therapy

**Chapter Nineteen- Therapy**

Iggy looked at me stunned.

"N-no. You can't be. I always use a..." He trailed off and then looked horrified. "Oh, shit!"

"What?" I yelled, grabbing the collar of Iggy's shirt and glaring at him. He went bright red.

"About a month ago. I think I might have... I forgot to use a... I didn't..."

"Just spit it out!" I snarled.

"I forgot to use a condom." I let his shirt go and took a couple of steps back in surprise. "I h-have to get to work. I-I-I'll talk to you later." Iggy turned around but Ally was in his way.

"Let me get this straight, you get your wife pregnant due to forgetfulness, when she tells you this your first instinct is to run when she is obviously scared and needs you right now." In an instant she had Iggy pushed up against a wall. He looked terrified.

"I have a meeting in forty minutes." Iggy said making a move for the door as Ally slapped him.

"Look, just go to work. I can't stand to be around you right now." I snarled at him. Ally released Iggy, who hurried for the door. "Wait!" I said abruptly and he stopped looking at me. "You're getting a vasectomy." He just glared at me and stormed out of the door.

* * *

After that big argument I decided to go upstairs and get dressed for the day. I called my doctor first to book an appointment for that afternoon. With everything that happened last time I wanted to make sure that everything was okay as soon as possible. As I hung up the phone there was a knock on the door.

"Mummy?" Lily called from the other side.

"Come in baby." Lily pushed the door open wide and bounced in holding something behind her back.

"Hi mummy! Daddy said you were sick this morning so I picked you some flowers." She handed me a bunch of flowers and it made me tear up.

"Oh sweetheart, thank you." Lily tilted her head to one side thoughtfully.

"Mummy are you pregnant?"

"How did you- what?" I stammered. How the hell did she work that one out?

"Because you're being sick, you're tired and crying a lot. Just like when Luke was in your tummy."

"Well, yeah, I am." Lily crawled up onto my lap.

"I'm really happy about the baby!" Lily beamed up at me.

"I'm glad, just don't tell your brother yet, I need to careful about telling him."

"He'll throw a tantrum when you tell him." Lily giggled. "I hope the baby is a girl. Cause then I can play dollies with it and dress ups and teach it how to get whatever it wants out of daddy. If it's a boy Luke and it will gang up on me and that won't be fair. Are you feeling okay mummy, you look a little bit green."

"I just feel a little bit sick. I think I just need some fresh air. Hey, how about you, Luke and I go to the park."

"Mummy, you don't have to do that. If you're not feeling well..."

"Darling, I'll be fine, I need to get out of the house anyway. Why don't you go ask Aunt Ally if she wants to come too and I'll take a shower?" Lily nodded and sprinted off.

* * *

An hour later, I was looking for a car park near the playground. I pulled into one quickly and saw that Ally was waiting. I got the kids out of the car, holding Lily's hand while I carried Luke who had been saying 'mummy' over and over since we'd left the house. Apparently it was his new favourite word. I was hiding the bags under my eyes behind large, dark glasses.

"What took you so long?" Ally asked. "We've been waiting for ages."

"Someone cut mummy off when she was driving and it made her upset and start crying." Lily explained. "We had to stop at the gas station to get tissues cause there wasn't any in the car and chocolate to make her feel better." Yes, instead of honking and yelling at the person who cut me off and I started crying. Pregnancy hormones are unpredictable. We walked over to the playground and Ally and I sat down at a park bench while the kids ran off to play. Except Lily.

"Mummy will you be okay? Will the baby be okay?"

"Yes baby, we'll be fine. Go and play." Lily nodded and skipped off, her blond curls bouncing behind her.

"So, I guess you told her." Ally commented.

"Actually, no. She worked it out. I don't know whether to be proud that she's so smart or to be worried." I could see the usual group of thirty-five year old mothers across the playground, whispering about us. God they were annoying. I started staring off into space thinking about my disaster of a marriage.

"Do you think the backyard's big enough?" Ally asked snapping me out of my trace.

"For what?" I asked.

"My wedding."

"Yeah it's pretty big- Oh my god!" I exclaimed realising what she had just said. "Where? When? How?"

"Well, two days ago Jake and I were lying in bed and I asked him why he gave me a ring with a diamond. He said it's what you use to ask a girl to marry you. It turns out that he got 'will you marry me' engraved inside the ring and I was too stupid to look. He said he didn't think a girl like me would ever marry a guy like him which was why he couldn't just come out and tell me to look inside the ring." I hugged her tightly congratulating her.

"Who else have you told?" I asked so I wouldn't slip up and tell someone accidentally.

"Only you. I had to tell my maid of honour first." I gasped.

"You want me to be your maid of honour?" I asked, my hormones making my eyes fill with tears.

"Of course. Who else would it be? Iggy?" she gave me a scrutinising look and then looked amused. "Are you crying?"

"No," I lied brushing away the tears. "Okay, so maybe I am, I'm allowed to. So when do you think the wedding will be."

"I think I'd really like a late spring or early summer wedding." Ally mused wistfully. I smiled then frowned.

"You'll have a blimp for a maid of honour then."

"Oh, how pregnant will you be by then?"

"Uh, I think I'm due around mid-may but honestly being in labour wouldn't stop me being there." We exchanged smiles.

"Mummy! Mummy!" I heard Luke yell, I looked up. He ran toward me. "Mummy! Buggy!" He grinned. He held his hand out stretched with a snail on it.

"Oh my god!" I shrieked, cringing. Luke's face crumpled. "Oh sweetheart, I'm sorry. But I think that buggy will be better free." I picked the snail up off his hand and took it over to a plant while holding it at arm's length by the shell. This only caused Luke to start crying.

"Buggy mine!" he whined. I got a wet wipe out of my bag and wiped all the snail slime of his hand before picking him up and cuddling him until the tears stopped.

"I'm sure buggy is a lot happier on the plant so he can meet up with all his other buggy friends. Do you want mummy to take you on the slide?" Luke nodded so I carried him over to the slide and helped him climb up the ladder. Once he was up their safely I went around to the bottom of the slide to catch him. "Ready?" I asked and he nodded. He started sliding down the slide and was soon in my arms beaming at me. We repeated this process a couple of times before Luke dragged me over to the sandpit. I sat on the wooden edging watching him build his castle. Eventually Ally came and sat beside me as Typa had decided to play in the sand. We got talking about the wedding until we heard angry cries of 'mine!' I looked up to see Luke and Typa having a tug of war over a plastic spade. We both rushed over because they looked like they were about to start hitting each other.

"Alright, you can come and play over here." I told Luke picking him up and taking him over to the other side of the sandpit and making sure that he had a spade and bucket of his own before I left him to go sit by Ally again. By that time Lily was running over to us dragging Shadow behind her.

"Mummy I think the baby is hungry." Lily told me sitting down on my lap. "I think the baby wants ice cream. Mummy, I think we should get the baby its ice cream."

"Oh really?" I asked her, disbelievingly but ice cream was starting to sound really good right now. "Well, I guess the baby has to get what it wants." We gathered together the kids and went over to the ice cream stall.

"Mummy, I want strawberry!" Lily told me as we waited in line.

"Okay baby. What do you want Luke? Vanilla?"

"No!" Luke exclaimed showing that he'd learnt a new word. I'd kind of been dreading him learning this word as it meant he could be even more disagreeing that ever. Finally we got our ice cream. I found that the baby obviously did want ice cream as it tasted so good. After ice cream we decided to go back home as Luke was getting cranky and tired and I was quite exhausted as well. Luke fell asleep in the car on the way home so I took him upstairs and put him into bed.

I decided to try taking a nap myself, considering I hadn't slept well last night. But when I lay down shutting my eyes I could not get my mind off Iggy and the baby.

After a while of trying to sleep, I gave up, sitting up and turning the TV on, settling on some random talk show. It was a special on men who cheat. One of the women's husband started an affair the day she found out she was pregnant. The pregnancy was unplanned and her husband had the affair with his assistant. I started thinking about Iggy and his assistant and began convincing myself that he was cheating on me. I jumped off the bed, preparing to go and confront him and ran down stairs. I found Ally and Jacob playing with Shadow on the living room floor, while Lily was busy with her dolls.

"I have to um, go out for a doctor appointment." That was partially true, I had one soon but I had time to go confront Iggy before that. "Do you think you could keep an eye on the kids for me?" I kept my thoughts guarded because I was pretty sure if she found out she would stop me.

"Yeah sure. I hope everything goes okay." I nodded and went out to my car, ready to confront that bimbo.

* * *

I parked my car outside Iggy's office building and stormed inside. I went up to Iggy's floor and hurried down to his office. He and his assistant, the bimbo in question, were laughing away about some joke. That just made me get even angrier. I knocked on the door and they looked up.

"Hey sweetie, what's up?" Iggy asked.

"Can I talk to you? Alone." I said with a glare at Tabitha.

"I'll talk to you about that proposal later." She told Iggy and left the room. Iggy stood up from his desk and came around to stand next to me.

"How are you feeling?" he asked and I just gave him an angry look. "What's the matter?" He sighed.

"It's her!" I exclaimed pointing out the door.

"Who? Tabby?" He had a stupid nickname for her.

"Yes, it's _Tabby._ How is it supposed to make me feel when I come here and see you and her laughing at some stupid joke? I bet it was about me like how I cried the other morning because you put the wrong thing on my toast."

"Honey, it was about something that got e-mailed around the office. I haven't even told people here that you're pregnant, only us and Ally know so far. Are you jealous?" He chuckled. I rolled my eyes and turned away from him. I strode over the window and stared out of it at the city.

"So, maybe I am jealous. But she's prettier than I am, younger than I am; her body hasn't been screwed up by having kids. And in a few months, I am going to be huge and you're not going to find me pretty. So excuse me for being jealous that she gets to spend all day with you while I stay at home looking after the kids and growing more and more unappealing by the day." Someone at the doorway cleared their throat and I spun around to see Tabitha standing at the doorway.

"Mr Ride the boss asked me to give these to you and Mrs Ride I am not about to steal your husband, I have a girlfriend." I froze and felt my cheeks heating up. Iggy cracked up.

"Vi, your face. I wish I had a camera!" He snorted.

"I-uh-um." I stammered.

"Are you insecure in your marriage or something Mrs Ride?" Tabitha pressed on. "Because you have a wonderful husband here, maybe you don't deserve him if you're going to accuse him of stuff like this." She gave me a steely look.

"I'm sorry." I said in a tiny voice, feeling pinpricks of tears at the edge of eyes. I hurried out of the room wanting to be as far away from this place as possible.

"Violet! Violet!" Iggy called after me, running to catch up to me. Unluckily for me he was faster than I was. He cut me off and I ran into him. He put his arms around me as I burst into full tears.

"I'm s-so sorry." I stammered. "I'm the worst wife in the world. I was just watching this thing on TV and I got really paranoid."

"It's okay, it's okay." He comforted me, kissing my forehead. "I haven't been the best husband either. Look how about we go into my office so we can talk properly and in private." I nodded and let him lead me into his office. Tabitha gave me an icy glare as we passed her desk.

"Hold my calls please." Iggy told her and shut the door to his office. I sat down on the couch in his office. He sat next to me and hugged me tightly.

"We have so many issues to work through." I sighed, leaning into him.

"I know but I promise to be by your side every step of the way. When the baby is born I am planning to take a month's paternity leave, paid or unpaid, I don't care, just so I can be here with you and our baby. I'll be up with you whenever it wakes up and I'll change as many nappies and clean up as much spit up as you need me too. And I'll get the uh vasectomy." I sniffed at hearing his promises. Crying again.

"W-what about when I get fat?" I asked shakily.

"You won't get fat."

"Well then when my stomach gets huge and I can't see my feet or do anything for myself."

"I won't care. You'll still be the most beautiful women ever. And before you ask yes I will handle you going through the cravings, the morning sickness, the exhaustion, the sex-crazed Violet waking me up in the middle of the night. And although it pains me to see you upset, I can handle the tears." He wiped away the tears that were now dripping out of my eyes.

"How are you feeling about becoming a dad again?"

"It feels pretty damn good. It's going to be a tough couple of months and there are going to be a lot of times when I'm in the doghouse but it's going to be worth it. How are you feeling?"

"Confused. Parts of me are wanting to dance with happiness but I'm so scared that maybe two kids is my limit and if you add another one to the mix I'll be a horrible mother to all of them cause I won't know how to divide my time between them."

"You'll be fine." Iggy assured me staring into my eyes intensely. "I know we can do this, together." Iggy hugged me tighter and I sat there sobbing. When they finally stopped Iggy wiped all the tears away with a tissue.

"I have a doctor's appointment soon. Can you come with me?" I asked, I didn't want to go by myself.

"Of course. In fact, I think I'll take this afternoon and tomorrow of so we can get used to how things are changing."

* * *

Iggy got his time off and then we both took our separate cars to the doctor's office getting there with a couple of minutes to spare. We sat in the waiting room until my name was called by a nurse.

"Hi, Mrs Ride." She said leading me into a small room and getting me to sit down on seat while she sat a desk with a computer and a clip board on it. "I'm just going to ask a few routine questions and then get a blood and urine sample, take your blood pressure and weight before you see the Doctor, so you're twenty-five years old." I nodded. "You've had two children already." More nodding. The questions went on like this until we got to the good stuff.

"So, how would you describe your sex life?"

"Very healthy, a few times a week I guess. Sometimes more." I noticed Iggy smirk ever so slightly.

"Were you taking any methods to get pregnant?"

"No, we were using condoms to prevent it. But my husband isn't very reliable with them." I gave him a sideways glare.

"Okay, well, we'll get that blood sample now." I cringed, I hate needles. I looked away as she drew the blood and tried not to think about how eerily similar this was to what had happened at the school. _You're doing this for your baby. _I told myself. I clung onto Iggy's hand tightly. I did all the other tests before I finally got to see Doctor Lodani.

"Hi guys, how are you doing?" She asked as we walked into her office and taking a seat.

"We're great." Iggy said with a grin.

"So, I've been looking over your test results and you are definitely pregnant. You've actually lost weight slightly but that's probably due to the morning sickness and it's nothing to worry about, just try eating when and what you can. Now the blood pressure..."

"What?" I asked cautiously, there was obviously something wrong. Iggy's face got very tense.

"It's above your normal rate. I'm not going to put you on medication for it yet, but you need to stop stressing so much. You need to have a virtually stress free pregnancy, since you had preeclampsia previously there is a slightly higher chance of getting it again. So you need to take it easy, get lots of rest and we'll keep monitoring your blood pressure carefully." I nodded. A stress free pregnancy, not likely for me. "Do you want to see your baby?"

"You're going to do an ultrasound?" I was surprised; I usually didn't get my first one til about ten or twelve weeks.

"Yes, we'll just go along to the ultrasound room and see this baby." I grinned and we followed her down to the room. Iggy helped me up onto the bed and stood by my head as we waited for them to find the baby. We watched the screen showing my uterus until a little blobby thing showed up on it.

"There's the baby, by the looks of it you're about six or seven weeks so you should be due around the middle of May." Doctor Lodani explained. I just nodded because I was almost hypnotised by the baby. It was such a little thing but I could kind of make out its head. I was crying silently and a quick look at Iggy showed that there was a tear running down his cheek. We exchanged smiles and went back to watching the baby.

"Iggy, I'm so glad you're an idiot." I whispered to him shakily.

"Me too, darling, me too."

* * *

Half an hour later I was parking in the garage at home. Iggy had beaten me there and was leaning against his car.

"You're such a slow driver." He teased opening my car door.

"I'm not a crazy driver like you are." I informed him with a smirk, grabbing the picture and the DVD of the ultrasound and the prenatal vitamins I had been prescribed from the passenger seat. I examined the picture for a moment. "Our kid is cute." I commented.

"Must take after its mother then." I grinned at him and we went inside the house. Lily came running to meet us.

"Hi mummy! Hi daddy!" she said excitedly. "Daddy did you know that I'm getting a baby brother or sister!"

"Yeah, I did know that-" Iggy began.

"NO!" Luke exclaimed, I hadn't noticed that he was standing there until now.

"Darling..." I began going over to pick him up, putting the baby stuff on the countertop.

"No baby! Mummy mine!" He argued, ducking around me and going to hit Iggy. I guess he knew whose fault it was. Smart kid. After throwing a couple of punches at his father's legs he stormed out of the kitchen. I heard him stomp upstairs and slam his bedroom door. My one year old was already turning into a teenager.

"Mummy, what movie is this?" Lily asked grabbing the ultrasound DVD of the counter.

"That is a video of the baby in my tummy." I explained.

"Can we watch it?" Lily asked.

"Sure baby, I've got to warn you it's pretty boring." Well for her at least. I could watch it all day.

"I wanna watch it." she assured me.

"You two go do that and I'll check on Luke and then I need to get some work done." Iggy told us leaving the room. I took Lily into the lounge and set the DVD up, I sat on the couch with her on my lap and we watched the video.

"It's so little." Lily whispered.

"It's actually even littler than that." Ally came into the room with Typa and Shadow. "Hi, did you tell your kids?" I asked as she sat down next to me.

"Yeah, did you tell Luke?" As a response to my question there was a noise from upstairs. Luke's room was right above the lounge and it sounded like he had just thrown a toy or something at his wall. "I'll take that as a yes."

"What that?" Typa asked her mother, pointing at the TV.

"That's Aunt Violet and Uncle Iggy's baby."

"You having baby?" Typa inquired, turning to look at me.

"Yeah, I am." Typa reached over to hug me. She was so sweet. After she'd finished hugging me, I switched the TV onto Disney Channel. The three kids sprawled out on the floor and watched intently.

"So how was the doctors?" Ally asked after awhile, relaxing into the couch.

"Uh fine." I lied. I didn't want to tell everyone about the high blood pressure.

"Are you sure?" she asked, suspecting I was lying.

"Yup, they said I was about six or seven weeks and that the baby was healthy."

"And what about your little detour before the appointment."

"How did you...?"

"When you're upset you have very loud thoughts that are hard to ignore. So how was bimbo bashing?" I was about to answer when there was a loud bang from the kitchen.

"Luke?" I called worriedly. When there was no reply I got up and ran into the kitchen. Luke was in the pantry and he had pulled down the container of flour. It had spilled all over the floor and all over him. It was such a huge mess. He just gave me a cheeky grin. "Lucas Ride, you've made such a mess!" I scolded, crouching down to try clean it up. "Iggy, I need help." I yelled down the hall.

"Mummy!" he said enthusiastically, getting up and holding his arms outstretched to hug me.

"No, you're a mess." I told him trying to move out of his reach. But he hugged me regardless. Now I had flour all over me. Luckily Iggy came into the room at that moment.

"Luke!" He yelled. "That's the good flour! It costs a fortune!" Good flour?

"Can you go get him some clean clothes?" I asked Iggy, wearily. Iggy nodded going off to get them from Luke's room. I pulled off Luke's floury clothes, so he wouldn't get it all through the house. This left him in just his diaper. I carried him over to the sink so I could wipe the remainder of the flour off. Iggy returned with Luke's clothes and I put him down on the bench so that I could put his new clothes on.

"Alright go play, but don't think that you're off the hook." I told him as I put him back down on the floor and watched as he ran off towards the lounge. I sighed tiredly and started moving back over the pantry to clean up the mess, since I was already covered in flour.

"You look stressed." Iggy commented.

"Yeah, well, you try not to be in my position." I snapped as I was looking for a broom. Iggy came up behind me and lifted me up.

"Stressing is bad for you and the baby." He whispered, cuddling me close

"I'm going to get flour on you." I mumbled.

"I don't care. Now you are obviously in a shitty mood so here's what we're going to do. I'm going to run you a bath and when you get out, you're going to take a nap." I opened my mouth to argue, but Iggy silenced me. "No buts."

* * *

Soon enough I was relaxing in a bubble bath. Iggy had lit candles and everything. He was really making an effort to make me feel better. Someone knocked on the door.

"It's just me." Iggy's voice came from the other side of the door. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah, sure." Iggy opened the door and shut it behind him.

"The flour is all cleaned up but Luke is still pretty upset." Iggy informed me as he sat on the edge of the bathtub by my head and started rubbing my shoulders. "Feeling better?"

"So much better. Thank you for this."

"No problem. Nothing but the best for my wife."

"Iggy, can I talk to you about something. You're probably going to be really upset with me but I need you to keep an open mind about it."

"Okay."

"I think we should go to marriage counselling." Iggy was silent and I looked up to see a stunned expression on his face. "Hear me out, we've been having problems lately with Zack and our fight and the baby..."

"What happened with Zack wasn't my fault."

"I know, it was my fault and I am so bad at marriage."

"Honey, why would you think that? I love you so much; you're the best wife I could ever ask for."

"B-b-but I've been a horrible wife and don't blame it on my hormones because it wouldn't have made me that crazy. I think that counselling would be good so we could talk out our issues and I won't be stressing so much about our relationship."

"If it's what you want then we can try counselling."

"Thank you." I whispered, smiling at him. "Can you get me a towel?" Iggy got one off the towel rail and handed it to me. I stood up and wrapped myself in it, trying to ignore the fact that Iggy was staring. I climbed out of the tub and went out the bathroom and into the wardrobe leaving Iggy to clean up the bathroom. I got dressed and then pretty much collapsed on the bed. Iggy came into the room and crawled onto the bed next to me.

"Can you stay with me until I fall asleep?" I mumbled, snuggling up to him.

"Sure darling." Iggy start stroking my hair.

"Do you think you could also invite Max and Fang over for dinner tonight, I want break this to him gently. And wake me up when they get here."

"I'll do that. Sweet dreams."

* * *

"Violet, honey, wake up." Iggy whispered a couple of hours later. I opened my eyes blearily, rubbing them and yawning. "Max and Fang are here."

"I'm still so tired." I complained, as Iggy helped me up.

"I know sweetheart, but I'm pretty sure Fang will storm out after we tell him so they'll be gone quite early." I hit him on the shoulder playfully. Iggy just laughed and grabbed onto my hand, leading me downstairs. We went into the lounge where the adults were all sitting on the couches while the kids played on the floor.

"Mummy!" Luke exclaimed, running over to me and reaching to be picked up. I obliged because I was in no mood to argue with him.

"Hey guys." I greeted Max and Fang sitting on the couch with Luke my on lap. Iggy had gone to check on dinner.

"Have you still got that stomach flu?" Max asked and Fang gave me a worried look. Ally snorted.

"Uh yeah, but there's not much I can do about it. I kinda just have to wait until it passes." Which was going to take about another seven and a half months. We all talked for awhile until Iggy called us for dinner. The kids had already eaten so I put Luke back on the ground much to his annoyance. But I needed to eat so he had to deal with it. The five of us went to sit in the dining room. Iggy came out with a dish full of lasagne.

Remember how much you like my food and how that if I died you wouldn't get it." Iggy said putting the dish in the middle of the table. Everyone served themselves their food while I sat there wringing my hands nervously. And then as everyone began eating I just blurted it out

"FangI'mpregnantpleasedon'tkillmyhusband!" I babbled. I clapped a hand over my mouth, realising what I had said. A very dark look crossed Fang's face. He stood up and scowled at Iggy before hitting him. Iggy retaliated and soon they were having a full out brawl. "Do something!" I pleaded desperately to Ally and Jacob. I didn't want to get in the middle of it. I knew that they wouldn't hurt me intentionally but if a stray punch was to accidentally hit me in the stomach and then it would most likely be bye bye baby. They exchanged a look.

"In a minute." Ally said watching the fight interestedly. "Go Fang!" she cheered. I rolled my eyes.

"I'll do it." I sighed. Luckily as soon as I even stepped near the fight they both stopped, not wanting to harm me. "What the hell Fang?" I snapped, examining Iggy's injuries. His nose was bleeding, the poor thing. I gently made Iggy on a chair so I could clean him up. "Stay there. I'm going to get a cloth." I kissed him on the forehead and hurried to the kitchen to get one. I returned to the dining room and sat on Iggy's lap, gently wiping the blood of his face.

"Damn your brother is a psychopath." Iggy complained.

"I know darling." I told him, nodding sympathetically. "I'll deal with him in a minute." I shot a sideways glare in Fang's direction.

"Why am I getting the blame? He's the idiot." Fang grumbled. "When will you learn that sleeping with Iggy is always a bad idea? I should seriously send you off to nunnery far, far away from him..." Blah blah blah was all I heard when I tuned him out, focusing on fixing up Iggy. How come he only talked this much when he was lecturing me?

"Fang you don't have to worry about it. This is the last baby I'm having."

"How do you know that for sure?"

"Because Iggy is getting a vasectomy."

"Violet!" Iggy complained as the room fell silent, followed by loud laughter from the other guys. Lily wandered into the room and her eyes widened when she saw Iggy.

"Daddy! What happened?" she asked worriedly running over to him.

"Uncle Fang hit me." Iggy said, stroking Lily's hair. Lily turned to scowl at Fang.

"That's not nice Uncle Fangy."

"It's normal of Uncle Fang. He found out that me and daddy were having a baby." I explained to her. "He did the same thing when he found out that we were having you." Lily's lower lip started wobbling.

"Uncle Fangy didn't love me?" She asked, her big eyes welling with tears.

"Look what you did! First you punch my husband and now you made my baby cry." I snarled at Fang, standing so I could pick Lily up. "It's okay baby, he loves you now."

"But h-he didn't then." She whined. Fang looked horrified and came over to us, Lily just turned away from him.

"I'm sorry Lils, it wasn't that I wasn't happy that you were coming, it was just a big shock that's all." Lily didn't look appeased. "How can I make it up to you?" a look flashed across Lily's face. She knew that she could make him do anything that she wanted. She squirmed out of my arms, grabbed Fang's hand and dragged him towards the lounge.

"Uh, what are we doing?" Fang asked fearfully.

"You'll see." Lily giggled.

"That's my girl." Iggy said beaming with pride.

* * *

Two hours later Fang had finally gotten all the makeup off his face. The kids were tucked up in bed so we were all hanging out in the lounge. It was times like these that showed the difference in each of the couples. Ally and Jacob and Max and Fang were just sitting next to each other. However, I was lounging on Iggy's lap; we never really bothered with toning it down in public. Plus Iggy provided the perfect pillow and I felt like I was about to fall asleep at any minute. Growing a person was really tiring work.

"Are you free eight months from now Max?" Ally asked suddenly, making Max look up.

"Uh, I think so, why?"

"Oh, I'm just planning my bachelorette party." Ally stated, like it was a simple fact, even though three people in the room didn't know about the upcoming wedding.

"What?" Fang, Max and Iggy all exclaimed in unison. It woke me up a little bit because Iggy yelled right in my ear making me jump.

"Sorry darling," he apologised. "It just astonishes me that anyone would want to marry... that." Iggy nodded in Ally's direction with a shudder. Ally just glared at him and flipped him off. "But congratulations and all that crap. Marriage is awesome, especially when you're married to someone who's really good at it. Like my wife."

"Iggy, don't." I mumbled, not wanting to have this argument now. I was bad at marriage and I knew it. He couldn't convince me otherwise.

"Wow, um, congratulations." Max said standing up to hug Ally.

"Glad you finally manned up and did it." Fang told Jacob clapping him on the back.

"I just don't get why you're so adamant that you suck at marriage." Iggy whispered to me, taking advantage of the congratulating to talk to me.

"Because I do. I screwed up badly and all that shit was my fault just to satisfy some part of me that wanted more when I have everything I want. But can we please not start this now."

"Fine, but we will talk about it." Iggy said in a tone that I knew he meant what he said. I turned my attention back to the others.

"Fang, I want you to be my best man." Jacob asked Fang.

"Course." Fang replied.

"What about me?" Iggy demanded outraged.

"What about you?"

"I'd make an awesome best man."

"Sorry man but I'd like my best man not to be fighting with my bride."

"Okay, fine, but be prepared for am lame bachelor party. I will be sitting here being awesome while you wish that you had one of my legendary bachelor parties."

"Like how you almost got us arrested at mine?" Fang asked seething.

"Exactly. It was way better than what we did it mine, Princess Fangy." That name would be stuck on Fang forever, since Lily dressed him up as a princess.

"That was safe and responsible fun." Fang argued.

"It was boring. Luckily I foresaw what you were going to do and made back up arrangements."

"Oh yeah, the ones that caused you to come home at five am, waking up your pregnant fiancée." I reminded him "I'm just glad I made you have it a couple of days before the wedding or who knows what could have happened."

"A word of advice, don't wake up Violet at five am. It wasn't pretty." It wasn't. I was extremely pissed at him. So I made him sleep on the floor, slapped him and yelled at him while he was hung over. Ever since then, if he'd had a late night out, he was extremely quiet when he got home. The conversation turned to wedding planning after awhile. I was enjoying it but Iggy noticed how tired I was.

"Bedtime for you my love." He whispered.

"N-no" I yawned ruining it. He raised an eyebrow.

"You're exhausted. Come on, I'll carry you." We said goodnight to the others and soon I was being carried up the stairs by Iggy.

"Do you enjoying playing Prince Charming?" I asked.

"No, I just know that you're clumsy when you're tired. I don't want you to fall and hurt yourself." I smiled at his sweetness. We got ready for bed and curled up under the covers together. Iggy insisted on saying goodnight to the baby, so he cooed over my stomach for a few minutes. Despite the shock this had given us and what I was going to make him get, I could tell he adored the kid already.

* * *

I was woken up from my sleep an hour later by Iggy's mumbling. He was still asleep but he looked very distressed.

"No scalpels... my manhood... help." He mumbled in his sleep. I could hear muffled laughter from outside our bedroom door. I got out of bed to check it out. I found Ally and Fang standing outside the door.

"What the hell are you guys doing out here?" I asked them, frowning. They exchanged a glance.

"Uh... what are you doing out here?" Ally retorted trying to cover up the fact that they were obviously doing some inception-like crap in Iggy's dream. I rolled my eyes and shut the door again.

"Iggy, wake up." I whispered, shaking him slightly. His eyes flew open. "What's wrong?" I asked stroking his hair, lying down next to him.

"N-nothing." He stammered, obviously shaken. I cuddled up to him making a mental note to murder Fang and Ally later.

* * *

I woke up again in the middle of the night. I rolled over and looked at Iggy's alarm clock. It was one am. I was not sleeping well tonight. To try and get myself more comfortable I pulled one of Iggy's pillows out from under him, earning only a sleepy grunt from him. Ever since we'd settled down and moved into this house he'd become a really heavy sleeper, I guess it was because he felt safe. I started drifting back to sleep when a sudden thought crossed my mind, _Oh my god I want a Burger!_

"Darling!" I said hurriedly kicking Iggy awake. No response. I tried again but Iggy still stayed fast asleep. I decided then to jump on him.

"Uh, okay." He mumbled and started trying to kiss me.

"What the hell are you doing?" I asked.

"I thought you wanted to do it. I mean you pounced on me!"

"No! I want a burger, from McDonald's, with fries!" I told him brightly. Iggy groaned and got out of bed.

"Alright, I'll be back soon." Iggy put a shirt on and left the room.

"I want some too." Lily piped up from her room suddenly. I could see Iggy stop in his tracks outside her door. He let out a sigh, never able to deny her what she wanted.

"Sure baby."

"Me too!" Luke shouted.

"Can you get Jacob, Shadow, Typa and me some too?" Ally asked. Iggy was fuming as he took everyone's order. He slammed the door as he left. "Hey Fang... call Iggy and ask him to get you all some McDonalds and then come down to our place... because it'll piss him off and aren't you looking to get revenge on him." Ally said, I assumed she was on the phone. I got out of bed and went to get the kids up. I got them downstairs and we sat at the table. Lily was next to me and Luke was sitting on my lap, with his arms around my neck tightly. Soon enough we were joined by the rest of the flock.

"Uh, what are you guys doing here?" I asked them.

"Same thing that you're doing. Waiting for McDonalds." Fang explained with a smirk. I rolled my eyes just as the garage door could be heard opening. Iggy came into the room soon after.

"Here darling. I got you a sundae too because I thought you might like one." He told me handing me a paper bag full of food.

"Oh thank you, you can be so thoughtful sometimes." I beamed at him, ripping into the bag and pretty much attacking the food like a lion on prey. He gave the kids their food but for the rest of the adults he had a different attitude.

"Here." Iggy snarled throwing the others' food on the table carelessly before slumping down in a chair obviously pissed off. We all started eating and talking and as I was half way through my sundae Iggy suddenly blew his top.

"I've had enough! Okay, from now on I only get food at midnight for Violet because she is my wife and she cannot help wanting McDonalds in the middle of the night."

"But daaaaddddy!" Lily whined just as Luke let out a frustrated cry from my lap.

"Okay, for Violet, Lily and Luke."

"Blackmail, and that includes me, Jake, Typa and Shadow." Ally threatened.

"Fine, only for Violet-"

"You got my sister pregnant. Three times." Fang said.

"It's because of me that you're not rotting in the ground." Max informed Iggy.

"I can make you get me McDonalds so I don't care either way but I'm pretty sure you'd rather do it on your own terms." Angel shrugged.

"I will use my special power in your bedroom." Gazzy said simply. Iggy opened his mouth to argue.

"Don't you dare argue with that one." I told Iggy. My morning sickness was bad enough without adding that to the mix.

"I can control metal and I don't think you'd like it if I manipulated your precious car and boat into cubes." Nudge said with an air of innocence. I could see that Iggy was about to blow his top. He got to his feet absolutely fuming.

"I am the head of product development at a multi-national corporation. I have a staff of 50 people working under me. I am not your monkey butler!" Iggy snarled stalking out of the room. I could tell that there was more bugging him than just the McDonalds.

"Hey Violet, are you sure he's a guy because that is how Max acts when she's PMSing." Fang asked me with fake sincerity.

"Oh Fang, I know he's a man." I said with a grin on my face.

"I still think that's debatable." Ally disagreed.

"It's not." I said standing up and putting Luke down on my now empty seat so that I could go check on Iggy. I found him sitting in the lounge, his arms folded with a scowl on his face. Yup, there was definitely something up. "Honey what's the matter." I asked sitting on the couch closest to him.

"It's nothing, I'm fine." He was obviously lying. I saw that there was a pack of erasers sitting on the coffee table. I picked one up and threw it at Iggy, hitting him square in the head.

"Tell me." I demanded. When there was no reply from him I repeated I threw another one. "Tell me." No reply again. I repeated this until he finally responded.

"I'm scared that I won't be around for the baby as much as I have with the other kids."

"Why?" I asked.

"Well, because with work and how I get late home sometimes and there are a heap of business trips coming up."

"We can get through it. But why didn't you just tell me that earlier."

"You have enough on your plate." He said moving onto the couch next to me. "You're not supposed to be getting stressed so you don't need me unloading all my problems on you."

"I think that I would be a lot more stressed worrying that there is something wrong with you. Can you just tell me from now on? Please? Because I think our biggest problem is not communicating with each other."

"Okay then, if I tell you what wrong with me from now on, you will tell me what is wrong with you. Deal?"

"Deal." Rather than shaking hands like most people do, we decided to go with something that was more us and began making out.

"You know we've kind of gone full circle." I mumbled as Iggy busied himself with kissing me.

"How?" came his muffled reply.

"Just over a month ago, we were doing the same thing on this very couch that resulted in you getting me knocked up."

"You've got to be kidding me!" Ally exclaimed. Iggy and I broke apart and looked up to see the flock minus the kids, thank god, standing in the doorway.

"I've sat on that couch! Oh god, I need a shower!" Nudge shrieked running from the room.

"Have you no shame?" Fang asked.

"Nah, not really." Iggy replied with a sheepish grin.

"The couch! Of all places in the house you had to pick the couch?" Ally questioned us.

"I wouldn't say we picked the couch." I began "We were kind of just sitting on the couch, drinking after everyone had gone to bed and then one thing led to another..." I trailed off thinking about that night.

"I don't need the images!" Ally and Angel exclaimed in unison, storming out of the room with the rest of the flock following after.

"Out of all the disgusting things we've done, this is the one that shocks them." Iggy said shaking his head.

"My god, they are weird." I frowned but then something came back into my mind. "So where were we?"

* * *

The next morning, I felt like I had every other morning for the past week. I made my way downstairs at around ten, pretty sure that there was nothing left in my stomach to throw up. I found Iggy in the lounge flipping through the TV channels. I sat down next to him and buried my face in his side.

"Hey," he said. "How are you feeling?"

"Like shit." I complained. "All the stuff about pregnancy making you glow is crap." Ally and Jacob came in to the lounge with their kids.

"We're going out for the day." Ally told us.

"Cool, where are you going?" Iggy asked casually.

"To see a friend." they were being cryptic.

"Which friend?" I asked perking up slightly.

"A friend who is in possession of a certain tape." I knew that tape would come back to bite us in the ass.

"Have nice time." I chirped with as much energy I could muster. Which wasn't much.

"Will you be home for dinner?" Iggy asked, laughing nervously.

"Yeah we will, see you."

"Bye." Iggy and I said in unison as they turned to walk to the door.

"So, what do you want for breakfast?" Iggy asked pushing my hair out of my face, once they had left.

"Nothing, I'm not hungry." I just wanted to stay here with him.

"Sorry sweetheart, I know you don't feel well but you're eating for two. Skipping breakfast isn't allowed." He succeeding in dragging me in the dining room and made me toast. He sat beside me while I ate to make sure I ate.

"It's a nice day today." He commented looking out the window. "We shouldn't stay cooped up inside. How about we pack up a picnic and take the boat out, only if you feel up to it."

"I'm already feeling better, sounds like a good idea." I smiled at him. "You pack up that picnic and I can get the kids ready." I finished my breakfast and went to find them.

* * *

An hour later we were headed towards the lake with the boat attached to the back of the jeep. The kids were in the backseat in their swimsuits. We arrived at the lake and Iggy got the boat into the water while I got the kids out of the car. Lily stood beside me while Luke was balanced on my hip. He was playing with some of my hair, but not pulling too hard.

"All aboard!" Iggy called from the boat. I waded into the water out to beside the boat and handed Luke up to Iggy and then did the same with Lily. The food and other things were already stored on it. I went over to the ladder to climb up onto the boat myself. I waited with the kids and put life jackets on them while Iggy went to park the car before returning to the boat and starting it up. We cruised around the lake for awhile. It was a pretty quiet day as everyone else was at work or school. I felt very relaxed and happy, which I guess was Iggy's aim with today. To get me to relax.

We stopped on the other side of the lake to go for a swim and have our lunch. Iggy set up a blanket on the shore for us to sit on.

"I really needed this." I admitted leaning against him.

"I know you did." He kissed the top of my head. I titled my head up to kiss him on the lips.

"Daddy can we go swimming now?" Lily asked, flopping down on to Iggy's lap, killing our romantic moment.

"Sure baby girl." He said, agreeing to whatever she said willingly. Big sucker. Iggy helped Lily get her sundress off so she was in her togs and then took his own shirt off because there was no one else around to see his wings. Him being shirtless distracted me momentarily. Once Lily had her water wings on they were ready to swim. Luke toddled over to me and started trying to drag me towards the water.

"Okay sweetie, just hold on a minute." I told him taking of my dress and his shirt. I picked him up. "There we go. Now we can go swimming." We went down to the lake were Lily and Iggy were already splashing around. I walked into the tepid water slowly until it was up to my waist. Luke was clinging onto me tightly.

"Muuummy," He whined, obviously afraid of falling in.

"It's okay, I'm not going to drop you." I promised. He relaxed slightly and started to enjoy himself, splashing around and laughing. After a while I gave Luke to Iggy and took Lily. I held on her hands while she kicked, helping her swim around.

"Your swimming is getting so good." I praised her as we walked back to the shore with Iggy and Luke. I dried her off before drying myself off. We ate lunch and just were a family. Eventually it was time to get back on the boat and go home. Luke fell asleep on the drive home, exhausted from all the swimming. Lily was still awake and chattering away. When we got home, I took Luke upstairs. When I was getting him out of his wet togs, he started waking up, looking grumpy and still tired.

"It's okay baby, I'm just putting some dry clothes on you and then you can go back to sleep." He nodded with a yawn and shut his eyes again. I tucked him in. I went downstairs to find Lily waiting at the bottom of the stairs for me.

"Mummy, I wanna watch a movie with you." She said, holding on to my hand. I nodded and went into the lounge to put one on. She crawled onto my lap and start watching when I pushed play. I looked down at her. Another baby wouldn't be so bad. Especially if it was anything like the two I had. I was going to be okay.


	20. Take it Like a Man

**Chapter Twenty- Take it like a man**

"Ugh I feel so sore... and violated." Iggy moaned as I helped him into the passenger seat of the car.

"Aww honey." I soothed kissing his forehead quickly. I had been the one to subject him to this pain so I guess I kind of had to comfort him. I shut his car door and crossed over to the driver's side. I climbed into the car and started driving.

"Drive slower." Iggy complained. "It makes it hurt more when you go fast." I reduced my speed slightly. I knew he would be grumpy and irritable for at least a few days but now even more so when the doctor told him no sex for a week. I swear he almost cried when the doctor told him that. He complained all the way home, from the potholes on Los Angeles roads to my driving. Finally we reached our house. He winced as he walked into the house.

"I'm going back to bed because I'm in pain." He announced. That would be good, if he was out of my way for an hour or two, I could try and clean the house a bit. Ally and Jake had taken the kids out of the house with the rest of the flock so Iggy could have a bit of peace, but not before Ally help me get Iggy out of the door by telling him, "_Stop moping. The sooner you get your nip and tuck, the sooner you get sex. Now get your ass out the out that door and stop being a pussy or I'll start calling you fluffy." _It had made him get to the car all the much faster.

"Okay darling, call me if you need anything." I told him. He nodded and walked stiffly up the hall. I went into the lounge and started picking up the toys that were scattered everywhere. It looked like a tornado had hit toys R us and dropped everything in our living room. As I was getting round to packing away the blocks I heard a voice call out,

"Viiioooleet" Iggy whined.

"What?" I called back.

"It hurts. I want some ice."

"Just let me finish putting away the blocks."

"No, I want it now!"

"Okay I'll get it for you." I stood up and went and found an ice pack. I went down to our room and gave it to Iggy. He looked up at me with pained eyes.

"Can you put it on for me?" I sighed.

"Honey, I would but I really need to keep cleaning. Who knows when I'll get another chance? I'm too tired or the kids need something or they make another mess as soon as I'm done."

"Oh okay."

"Anything else while I'm here."

"No."

"Okay, why don't you watch some TV?" I tossed him the remote from on top of our TV. He caught it and I went back to cleaning up the blocks. By the time I had gotten on to cleaning up the kitchen I heard it again.

"Viiiioooolet!"

"Yes dear?"

"I'm thirsty! Can I have some water? With a straw?" I got this for him and put it by his bedside. He was watching some war movie.

"Thank you." This continued throughout the day I'd get stuck into cleaning only for Iggy to call for something. By mid afternoon I gave up on cleaning and settled for lying on the couch watching TV barely able to keep my eyes open. I'd fetch whatever Iggy wanted when he called for it. I was starting to doze off when the froth door opened. I heard a little sneezing noise.

"Mama, mama." Lily called.

"In here." I replied tiredly. She ran in.

"I'm getting a cold Mama! So's Luke. My nose is stuffy. I need a tissue." I reached over to the box of tissues on the coffee table.

"Come here." She skipped over. I put the tissue over her nose. "Blow." She did so. There was a large amount of snot. Urgh. I put it in the kitchen bin. Ally came in to the kitchen holding Luke; he was sniffing and reached out for me. I took him from Ally.

"How were they?" I asked Ally, while looking at Luke who sneezed.

"Good, but I think your kids getting sick." Ally replied. I groaned.

"Great, just what I need."

"Is Iggy being annoying?"

"He's milking it. I mean I feel sorry for him that he's in pain and everything but I just want to have a few minutes to myself."

"You look tired. Jake and I will make dinner; you go sleep or watch TV."

"Thank you." I put Luke by a pile of toys and went into mine and Iggy's bed room. Iggy was watching another loud movie.

"Iggy, can you turn that off, I need to sleep. I'm really tired."I said sleepily.

"No, go in the spare room. I like this movie. It's my favourite." He grumbled.

"Stop being stubborn. I'm so exhausted because I've been waiting on you hand and foot all day and I'm pregnant with your freaking baby! Now just let me sleep!" I fell onto my side of the bed. Iggy didn't turn the movie off.

"You didn't have surgery today." I stood up and grabbed my pillow.

"Fine, I'll sleep in the spare room. Until you get your head out of your ass!" I hit him on the head with the pillow and stormed out. I went into the spare room and collapsed on the bed. I slept until a high pitched voice tried to wake me.

"Come on Mama, wake up. Aunty Ally said that dinner's ready and that she can save you some if you want to eat later." Lily said in a voice that made me think I had to find a tissue for her. I kicked the covers off and sat up. I definitely wasn't rested enough.

"No, no I'll get up." I picked her up and walked down the hallway to the kitchen. I went through the lounge and made Lily blow her nose first though. I put Lily down and she happily went and sat at the table next to Shadow. Luke looked up at me with his big blue eyes. His food was untouched. He reached for me to pick him up out of his highchair.

"Baby, you've still got your dinner there." I told him

"No! Up Mama! Up!" he demanded. I went to sit down deciding to try and ignore him so he'd get bored and start eating. But he started bawling. I picked him up and sat him on my knee while I ate. He felt hot like he had a fever. He wouldn't let me put him down all evening. He'd sit in my arms quite calmly but whenever I tried to put him down he would scream. I even had to stay by his cot until he fell asleep. After getting Lily into bed and making sure Iggy was okay. I finally fell into bed and went straight to sleep. However I was woken up a few hours later by Lily.

"Mama I had a scary dream. There was a fat, German man who thought I was made of chocolate and wanted to eat me." She sobbed, climbing into the bed. She fell back to sleep but not until she had given me an entire detailed account of her dream. When she had finally fallen silent and gone back to sleep I heard a gagging sound, coughing and finally crying. I climbed out of bed, careful not to disturb Lily, who was getting snot all over the pillow and went into Luke's room. He had thrown up over everything. All through his cot, on himself and some was even on the carpet. I picked him up and pulled his pyjamas off. He was burning up, worse than a few hours earlier.

"It's ok, baby. Shh shh shh." I tried to comfort him, rubbing his back. "Oh honey, you're really sick aren't you? You poor little thing." He was crying hard. I had to do something with him while I cleaned everything up. I grabbed a clean blanket out of his draw and wrapped him in it. I took him down the hall into our room.

"Iggy, wake up!" I said irritably. He sat up.

"What? I thought you were sleeping in the spare room."

"I am, but I need you to watch Luke for ten minutes. He threw up and it got everywhere. I need to clean it up but I don't want to leave him alone in case he gets sick again."

"Okay," I handed the whimpering Luke over to Iggy.

"Come here little man. You gotta sore tummy? Well that never feels nice. Poor kid." I left them to it, glad that Iggy was at least trying to keep him calm and went to start running a bath for Luke. Then I started cleaning up the mess. I gathered up all the dirty blankets and took them into the laundry grabbing carpet cleaner on the way out. As I walked past Ally and Jacob's room, a voice called out to me.

"Violet is everything okay?" Ally asked.

"Yeah it's fine," I replied not very convincingly.

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Go back to sleep." I went into Luke's room. I scrubbed the carpet until it was spotless. By that time the bath was ready. I grabbed Luke back off Iggy again.

"Thank you." I said to Iggy. "Was he okay."

"A bit grizzly. Can I go back to sleep now?"

"Good night." I went into the bathroom. I took of Luke's nappy and put him in the bath. He must have been sick because he didn't even splash around at all. As tired as I was he looked even more miserable. He spent the whole time sniffing and whimpering. When I got him out and put him in new pyjamas, I sat him on the floor of his room while I made his bed. Then I sat in the rocking chair with him, rocking and humming to him until he fell asleep. I put him back into his cot and went back to my own bed. But however it wasn't that easy to sleep. Luke kept crying because he had an upset stomach and Lily tossed and turned. I finally gave up on sleeping at six AM.

I spent the day sitting around with no chance to catch up on the large amount of sleep I had missed; Iggy was still staying in bed and Luke wouldn't let me put him down again. In desperation I tried putting Luke in front of one of Iggy's war movies with Iggy, but that didn't even work. Lily however was being looked after by someone else. Doctor Shadow.

"Oh no you've got a temperature of a gazillion degrees!" he told her looking at a toy thermometer. Lily was lying on the couch under a blanket. She looked horrified.

"Oh my gosh, that's horrible." Lily replied in her croaky voice.

"I know what will make it better." He quickly kissed her on the forehead. Lily grinned.

"That does make it better. Thank you doctor!"

"I'll go get you a snack now." Shadow walked off into the kitchen. Thankfully the Flock came over for dinner bringing pizza with them. I really couldn't be bothered cooking. I was bringing one of the Pizza's out to the dining room when I tripped and sent the pizza flying onto the ground. After the sleep-deprivation, the hormones and all the stress I'd had over the past two days, I just sat on the ground and started hysterically crying. Everything just came flooding out because of a stupid pizza. When I thought about how ridiculous I was being, it made me cry even more. I could see everyone exchanging awkward glances. I felt so embarrassed but I couldn't seem to stop myself from sobbing. Ally came and crouched in front of me.

"What's wrong sweetie?" she asked kindly.

"I d-d-dropped the pizza. I'm so s-s-sorry." I sobbed pathetically.

"It's okay we'll get you another piece and feed that one to Flu- I mean Iggy."

"I'm just so tired." I was fighting to keep my eyes open just sitting there.

"Let's get you to bed then." Even though that sounded like heaven, I couldn't.

"I can't, the kids are sick and I've got to look after Iggy."

"Oh, I'll look after the kids... and Iggy." She said Iggy's name sort of menacingly but I didn't really care. The thought of being able to sleep just sounded so good. I stood up.

"Thanks Ally." I said before walking down into the spare room. I almost tripped over a few times as I was so tired. I crawled into bed fully clothed because I didn't have the energy to get changed into pyjama's and fell asleep before my head hit the pillow.

"I want mummy!" Luke complained and he started crying. That was what disrupted me from my pleasant dream about the baby. I started getting out of bed to comfort my little boy but I stopped when I heard Ally's voice.

"Sweetie, she's very tired and needs to sleep."

"Me sick, I want her look after me."

"How about I look after you while your mum sleeps? Now, would you like some hot chocolate?"

"Can me throw stuff at daddy?"

"Of course you can. Do you want marshmallows in your hot chocolate?"

"Yes pwease. Aunt Ally, is the baby make mummy tired?"

"Partly. She's just been doing too much work and cleaning and she hasn't been sleeping enough."

"Oh," Luke paused for a moment. "Is the baby repwace me?" I could just imagine his eyes welling with tears and the hurt on his face. I started kicking aside the blankets, but once again I stopped when I heard what Ally told him.

"No, no one could replace you Luke. Hey, if you promise to go to bed after your hot chocolate and not go see your mum until she wakes up tomorrow morning, I'll tell you a secret."

"What is it?" Ally whispered something unintelligible to Luke "Daddy!" Luke called out and I heard footsteps walking away from the bedroom door. Happy that Luke would be taken care of, I put the duvet back over me and went back to sleep.

**Lily POV**

I woke up crying after having a really bad dream. I wanted to go into mummy's room but I Aunt Ally had told us not to bug her until the morning because she needed to get some sleep for her and the baby. So, since it was about Shadow, I got of bed, put on my slippers and quietly slipped down to his room. I pushed the door open slowly.

"S-s-shadow?" I whispered into the darkness.

"What's wrong?" He yawned sitting up slightly.

"I had a nightmare. And it was about you." Shadow lifted up his covers and let me crawl in next to him.

"What happened in it?"

"You went off with those mean girls from the park yesterday."

"The girls, you're worried over them? Why?"

"Cause they're older and prettier than me."

"They were annoying. I just wanted to hang out with you and play but they got in the way... your prettier than them." I muttered something that he couldn't hear. "What?"

"It doesn't matter." I mumbled, not looking into his eyes.

"You can tell me anything."

"I love you... like a best friend." I had to clear that up.

"I love you... like a best friend too."

"Can I stay here tonight... cause Luke is crying really loudly not because I don't want to be alone." I lied, Luke hadn't cried since daddy put him to bed.

"Course... but don't hog the covers."

"That was one time!" I exclaimed.

"No way, at least twice."

"Well, you kick me in your sleep."

"Just go to sleep."

"You go to sleep."

"It's my bed so you go to sleep."

"Now, I know why mummy gets grumpy with daddy." The door to Shadows room opened and Aunt Ally came in.

"Lily, its fine that you stay with Shadow but you guys are going to be really tired in the morning if you don't get some sleep soon. Especially you Lily, you need lots of sleep to get that cold better."

"Is mummy okay?" I asked her quietly.

"She's fine sweetie. She's having a big sleep and will be fine in the morning." I accepted this and Aunt Ally kissed Shadow and I on the forehead. "Sweet dreams." She left the room and I snuggled into Shadow and went to sleep.


	21. Ups and Downs

**Chapter Twenty-one- Ups and Downs**

The next morning someone was shaking me awake.

"Iggy, just give me two minutes. I'll get you want you want soon." I muttered closing my eyes again and burying myself in the blankets. I was still tired and felt slightly sick but not as bad as it had been for the past few weeks.

"It's not Iggy." Came Ally's voice. "Come on we're going for a girls day out."

"Can't, gotta clean. Look after kids."

"Nope, we got that covered. Your lazy husband has finally got himself out of bed. Come on it took heaps to convince Max to come."

"Okay, okay. I'm getting up just give me two minutes to get changed."

"Good, I'll meet you in the car." I rolled out of bed and shuffled down the hall to my bedroom. When I went in I was shocked. The bed was made with what appeared to be clean sheets; there were no clothes on the floor. Iggy had actually cleaned up in here, without me nagging at him. I got dressed, trying not freak about the fact that my baby bump had apparently grown markedly over a few days. It had been sticking out slightly for the past three weeks or so but now it was very prominent. When I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth, I found that it had been cleaned as well. I marvelled at the amazing sight for a while.

"Violet are you coming?" Ally called down the hall.

"Yeah, coming." I hurried out to Ally's car. I jumped into the front seat. Ally was in the driver's seat, of course, and Nudge, Angel and Max in the back.

"Where are we going?" I asked doing up my seatbelt. They all just exchanged looks. "Uh, should I be scared?" there was fear in my voice which made them laugh.

"Relax, we're just going shopping. You've had a rough couple of day so we figured that you need some down time." Ally explained.

"Aw thanks guys."I gushed. I could feel my eyes filling with tears. Jeez my hormones were all over the place these days. I wiped them away quickly.

"Yeah whatever, just know I'm not here by my own free will." Max said. "Don't get all hormonal and crap. Like last night." I gave Max a shut up look and turned around to face the front. Ally was driving rather fast; obviously she could slow down if she heard the thoughts of any cops. It would have been freaky but I was used to it, having Iggy as a husband. We arrived at the mall. We wandered around the shops for awhile, I could really only advise the others about clothes because anything I bought wouldn't fit for long. At one point I spotted a baby store.

"Babies!" I exclaimed, hurrying into the store. I cooed over all the little baby things and exclaimed several times how cute this would look like with on my baby.

"Hey where did Max go?" Nudge asked. I looked up from the adorable little baby socks at saw that Max had indeed disappeared.

"I'll go talk to her, you two better stay to make sure she doesn't buy everything in the store." Ally told the other two making me roll my eyes. I wouldn't buy _everything._ Ally left the store and I went back to looking at all the merchandise, pulling things of the shelves as I went.

"You don't even know what the baby is." Angel stated and as I looked through racks of clothes.

"It doesn't matter. A baby needs clothes no matter if it's a boy or a girl." I sighed and looked up. "You guys go find the other two, I'll meet you in the food court for lunch."

"But Ally said-" Nudge began and I cut her off before she could begin blabbering.

"I'm a big girl I can look after myself. Just go." I laughed, moving onto another rack of clothes. They both left to go join up with the other two, leaving me to shop to my heart's content. I got a few blankets, some clothes and an adorable grey stripped soft toy cat. I paid using Iggy's credit card that Ally had swiped for me. He might freak when he saw the bill but hopefully I wouldn't have to deal with that until later. I went off to the food court to meet up with the others. On the way there Ally's voice came into my mind.

_Violet, don't obsess over your purchases at the moment, it's not a good time_

_Uh, okay, _I replied feeling a little confused. I got some food and then sat at their table. We ate lunch while talking and joking around. We shopped for a little bit more and then decided to go home. I was really nervous about seeing Iggy again and wasn't quite sure what to say to him. We pulled up in the garage and said goodbye to Nudge and Angel who were going back home because they had things on tonight. I went into the house and was met by my children. I crouched down to their level and hugged them.

"Hey you two." I whispered, kissing them both.

"Are you okay after last night?" Lily asked.

"I'm really good baby, how's your cold?"

"I'm almost all better." she told me with a grin. I set them both off to play because I knew I couldn't put off talking to Iggy for much longer. I walked into the lounge to see Iggy, Max, Fang, Ally and Jacob sitting on the couches.

"Hi," I said quietly. Iggy stood up and walked over to me. He stood in front of me.

"Hi," He greeted me just as quietly. We held awkward eye contact for a moment. "I'm sorry." Iggy blurted out. "I was an asshole; I shouldn't have made you do all those things. I should have seen how tired you were and made you sleep and looked after the kids and not put you under all that stress, because last time you got over stressed, it didn't end up well."

"Iggy, you're rambling." I interrupted him with a smile.

"What I'm trying to say, is that I'm really sorry. You're my wife and we're having a baby. You deserve someone better." Iggy hung his head guiltily.

"Don't be stupid, how can I do better when I've got the best?" Iggy looked up grinning. I pulled him into a hug. "I love you." I whispered.

"I love you too." he mumbled into my hair. We broke apart and went to sit on the couch. I leaned against Iggy, who had a tight arm around me. He let out a sigh. "Why do you put up with me?" He asked.

"You honestly want to know?" I asked. Iggy nodded. "Ok, but it's a long list. Don't let this go to your head; you make me laugh on my worst days, your smile lights up a room, you can cook, you're a brilliant dad and you love our kids more than anything, you make mistakes but you always try to fix them, you have the best sense of humour, you're a naturally happy person. I know some girls," I nodded at Ally and Max when I said this, "Like those dark, brooding, mysterious guys but I couldn't deal with that, I need a guy who can make me laugh, who's bright and happy and who I can talk to for hours." Iggy's smile got wider as I listed things off.

"It's the way that, you have a side of you that only I get to see, how you always know exactly what to do say and how you can deal with my hormonal crying no matter how late at night it is. You've been there for the good times and bed. And it's your eyes..."

"My eyes?"

"Yeah, they're this beautiful blue and I was so happy when I saw that Luke had them and I really hope this baby has them too because I just love them so much. I could stare into them all day." And I did exactly that, hoping for him to say all the reasons he loved me, when he stayed silent I looked down, trying to hide my disappointment. Then Iggy's hands gently cradled my chin and he pulled my head up so I was looking into his eyes once again.

"I'm a better man because of you. Before you I was selfish, ignorant, stupid and so many other things. And then the whole thing with Courtney just took me down a peg and made me feel like shit. And then you come along and all that pain goes away, just by you existing. Because of the whole dream girl turned out to be real thing. At first we were just friends, I thought that I was lucky to have gotten this far, I didn't dream I could get more. Not with my luck. But then we did get together and it was so fast, I couldn't believe my luck. I thought it was too good to be true and that it would all disappear. But nearly eleven years later, you're still here.

"I know you're scared about the baby, and I hate that you doubt you ability to look after that kid because I know that you're a great mother. I'm going to do everything to help you and be the best dad I can. This may surprise you but to me the baby is worth the v-vas-vasec- the thing and I think that it's going to complete our family. I really hope it's just like you." My lower lip was wobbling now, it wouldn't be long until the water works started. I could hear Fang and Jacob snickering in the back ground but Ally and Max were silent. Iggy took a deep breath and continued.

"The first time I looked at you, I saw everything I ever wanted and everything I never thought to ask for, and I still do." The tears were freely flowing. Iggy looked at me shocked. "Did I say something wrong? Don't cry, its okay." I shook my head.

"I'm crying because it was so sweet." I didn't think he was capable of that. Iggy smiled softly and pulled me onto his lap and I snuggled into his chest as his arms wrapped tightly around me. I saw Ally and Max both slap Jacob and Fang respectively.

"What was that for?" The guys said in unison.

"It's so nice to see someone who's not me getting bitch slapped for once." Iggy whispered to me. I giggled quietly.

"You never say that stuff about us!" Max claimed.

"And, Iggy, Iggy the sexist pig just said one of the sweetest things I've ever heard!" Ally ranted.

"Ah, we're the strong and silent type?" Fang tried with Jacob nodding in agreement but Ally and Max just gave them annoyed look and stormed out. The guys turned to glare fiercely at Iggy who simply laughed.

"I'm going to get out of here before you two kick my ass." Iggy stood up grabbing my hand. We hurried out of the room.

"You're amazing." I told him when we were out of the room

"I thought you were trying to deflate my ego?"

A little while later I pranced into the dining room happily. Iggy was bringing the food out. He put it on the table and gave me a warm smile that made me melt.

"Hey beautiful," He greeted me coming around the table and wrapped his arms around my waist and leaned down to kiss me. We were interrupted by Fang and Jacob coming into the kitchen.

"Get a room." Jacob smirked. Iggy just grinned at both of them.

"This is a room, note the four walls and the ceiling." Iggy said in a 'duh' tone of voice. I laughed and leaned my head against his chest. Max and Ally walked into the room, glaring at Fang and Jacob. Iggy kissed me on the forehead and I noticed his hand lingering on my stomach for a moment.

"You love it, don't you?" I asked him, tears of happiness at the edge of my eyes. The hormones were going rampant these days.

"Of course I do. It's my baby." I gave him a huge grin and stood on tip toes to kiss him again.

"Seriously you two. We're trying to eat dinner." Fang snapped and Iggy and I broke apart. Jacob and Fang were down one end of the table with Ally and Max down the other end. Iggy and I sat side by side and started eating, oblivious to the tension. I felt Iggy's hand brush my thigh. I smiled at him, brightly.

"You so cute." Iggy stated.

"No, you're so cute." I giggled.

"No, you're cute."

"No, you're cute."

"No, you're cute."

"No, you're cute."

"Neither of you are cute!" Max interrupted us. All four of them looked agitated and disgusted. There was only the sound eating and the scratching of knives and forks on plate, until Ally spoke up.

"I broke the punching bag today." She said in an ice cold voice. Both Fang and Jacob looked absolutely petrified. But Iggy looked annoyed.

"Hey! That's my punching bag!" He complained angrily. I rubbed my hand up and down his up arm and leaned over to whisper in his ear.

"You don't need it." Iggy looked delighted and there was a loud groan from everyone else.

"We're trying to eat!" they all screamed in unison. I stood up abruptly

"Fine then!" I huffed angrily and stormed out.

"C'mon guys, be a bit nicer." Iggy scolded following after me. We both headed for the stairs and into our room, I sat on the bed folding arms folding my arms and scowling. Iggy came in cautiously, shutting the door behind him. He knew to be careful when I got upset, my hormones were volatile. But I wasn't upset with him at the moment.

"Are you okay?" Iggy asked, sitting down next to me and putting an arm around me. I sniffed and nodded.

"It's not our fault that they're fighting." I pressed my face into his chest and he ran his fingers through my hair.

"Of course it's not. Jacob and Fang just suck at romance compared to me." Iggy chuckled. "I never thought I'd say that."

"Well, it's true. You said all those lovely things and they don't even kiss their wives in public."

"Probably because they'll think it will discourage guys." That got a small laugh out of me.

After putting the kids into bed, I sat down beside Iggy snuggling into his side while Ally sat beside Max both of them glaring at their husbands. Iggy put a tight arm around my waist and kissed the top of my head.

"Tired?" He asked.

"You can tell?"

"Because when you're tired you get all cuddly and cute, and then after awhile you start getting tearful but if you get up in the morning and you're still tired you get grumpy."

"How do you know that stuff?"

"Ten years of loving you." I looked up at Iggy adoringly, smiling like an idiot.

"Are you a man?" Fang asked.

"Hey, at least my wife's talking to me." Iggy countered smugly, seemingly unphased by Fang's remark.

"You can't talk; you guys are in counselling to save your marriage." Jacob retorted snidely. Iggy just laughed.

"Counselling is actually alright. Especially what we do in the car afterwards."

"Yeah it is." I agreed, Iggy and I high-fived, chuckling. The others just rolled their eyes and turned away. I put a pillow on Iggy's lap and lay down resting my head on the pillow. I yawned and Iggy started stroking my hair. My eyelids felt heavy and I drifted into unconsciousness.

"Violet, come on darling, wake up." Iggy whispered. I let out a tiny groan and rolled over. "No, come on, don't go back to sleep." Iggy helped me to my feet and I put my most of my weight on him as we walked up the stairs to bed. I fell onto the bed and Iggy handed me my pyjamas. I put them on sluggishly and slipped under the covers. Iggy joined me and I put my arms around him and one leg over him, falling straight asleep.

The first thing I did when I woke up the next day was sprint for the bathroom. Yesterday I had managed escape all but slight nausea. But today it was back with a vengeance. After I finished brushing my teeth, I went down stairs. I felt horrible, I was tired, nauseous and headachy and as far as I was concerned it was all Iggy's fault. I went into the dining room, where Ally, Max, Fang and Jacob were all sitting at the table and Iggy was smirking away in a corner, leaning against the wall, drinking coffee. He smiled at me when I came in and I just responded with a death glare.

"Good morning!" Ally greeted me happily.

"What's so good about it?" I grumbled.

"I have the best fiancée in the world." She replied.

"Yeah, well I feel like crap and it's all Iggy's fault!" I snapped. Iggy looked confused and stunned.

"Trouble in paradise?" Fang taunted, he and Jacob both turning to Iggy.

"Weren't you just saying how sweet-tempered Violet was?" Jacob teased. I was annoyed at the whole lot of them. Iggy ignored them and looked straight at me.

"Do you want breakfast?" he asked worriedly

"Do I look like I feel well enough to eat breakfast?" I snarled.

"Okay, do you need anything?"

"Uh, I need a time machine and a husband who knows how to use a condom."

"I don't think I can get those things for you."

"Oh come on Iggy, she wants them. You'd better get them. Especially that second one." Fang interjected. Iggy looked irritated all of a sudden. He sighed and kissed me on the forehead.

"I have to get to work." He told me.

"You're leaving me?" I demanded tearfully. I wanted him around all day so I could yell at him. "But it's not even nearly half-past eight!"

"I've been out for three days because of the vas-thing. I need to get back into it and catch up on everything I haven't done. See you tonight." He walked out of the room leaving me standing there.

"I hate you!" I yelled after him.

"Love you too." He called back, shutting the door to the garage behind him. I looked around at all the others. They all seemed to be holding in laughter and had big smirks on.

"Don't say anything." I said sounding strained. Fang and Jacob opened their mouths but I just left the room before they could make their stupid gloating comments. I didn't care. I stalked up the stairs into my room. I showered and dressed in a short, light pink, knit bodice dress that hid my tiny baby bump and dark skinny jeans with black boots. I went into Luke's room where he was sitting up in bed, waiting anxiously for me.

"Hi sweetheart." I said as I picked him up.

"Hi mama." I went over to his dresser and started getting clothes out of his dressers.

"How are you feeling?" I asked feeling his forehead. He had a completely normal temperature.

"Good." Thankfully he was all better. I lay him down on the changing table and took his pyjamas off. I changed his nappy and put his clothes on.

"Me get bweakfast off dada?" Luke asked when I had him all dressed.

"No darling. Daddy had to go to work early. I'll get some breakfast for you after we get Lily up. Okay?" I picked him up and balanced him on my hip. We went into Lily's room where I was surprised to find her already awake and lying on her side in bed wide eyed. She gave me a terrified look and sat up when I came in. I put Luke down on the bed and sat down next to Lily.

"What's wrong baby?" I asked cuddling her. Lily sniffed.

"Mummy, are you and daddy going to break up?" her dark eyes were filled with tears and she clung to me. Luke looked scared when she asked this and came to cuddle up to my other side.

"Why would you think that?" I frowned with confusion.

"Cause, you fight a lot. Like when you found out about the baby and the last few days. And daddy wasn't very nice to you. And you're always annoyed at him. And just before I heard you screaming that you hated daddy."

"Sweetheart, I love your daddy so, so much. Nothing could ever break us up. I've loved him for ten and a half years. We have two beautiful children and another on the way and I have never been happier than I am now. I didn't mean it when I said I hated him." I was starting to feel really bad about yelling at him now.

"Then why do you always yell at him?"

"It's very hard growing a baby and it makes me very tired. And when I get tired I get really grumpy. I also don't feel very well so I'm in a very bad mood sometimes. I don't want to take it out on you and Luke but daddy is the reason I'm pregnant so I feel like it's only reasonable to take it out on him. And I know that daddy doesn't mind and he knows how to make me happy again." The guilt about what I had said was starting to eat me up inside. I needed to call him. But I had to get the kids sorted first. I dressed Lily and brushed her strawberry-blonde curls. I made both kids brush their teeth.

"What's uncle Fangy and Aunt Max doing here?" Lily asked as I lifted her onto a breakfast bar stool. I had decided to feed them in the kitchen so the others could have their breakfast in peace. I had dragged Luke's highchair in too.

"They are having a special breakfast with Aunt Ally and Uncle Jacob."

"Why?"

"Cause Fang and Jacob got in trouble and they're sucking up." Lily seemed to accept that and I put some pop-tarts in front of her. I fed Luke his cereal while eating my own toast. I felt better now and I could see things clearly now. I was so upset about what I had said to Iggy. As soon as the kids had finished, I sent them off to play then grabbed the phone and dialled his mobile number. Then I heard a phone ringing on the bench. He'd left it behind. I sighed and put both phones down, staring out the window blankly. Ally, Jacob, Max and Fang all came out looking very happy. They were heading for the garage.

"And where do you think you're going?" I asked and they stopped.

"Out." Fang said simply.

"You can go out after you've cleaned up the kitchen." they had left it in a complete mess. Fang and Jacob laughed and started walking out. "Clean it or else." I threatened.

"Or else what?" I looked at Ally and Max who both nodded at me in return.

"I won't be the one dishing out the punishment." I smirked. The boys scowled at me before getting to work.

"Can you look after Shadow and Typa please?" Ally asked.

"Yeah, of course. You guys have fun, see ya later." I said leaving the kitchen, to go sit somewhere and wallow.

Later in the day, the kids were all off playing and I was sitting on the kitchen bench procrastinating calling Iggy's office. I needed to talk to him but I knew I'd have to go through his assistant who hated me. I decided to suck it up and called the number. I got directed through to her.

"Hello, Iggy Ride's office, Tabitha speaking." She answered.

"Uh hi, it's Violet, Iggy's wife. Can you please put me through to him?"

"He's not here." She said sharply.

"Well can you tell me where he is, I really need to talk to him."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"I don't like you." She hung up. I brought the phone down from my ear, the tears forming in the edges of my eyes.

"Mummy?" I heard Lily ask. I looked up and saw her standing in the middle of the kitchen. I didn't want her to see me crying and upset. "What's wrong?"

"N-nothing." I stammered wiping my eyes. Lily ran over to me, and started pulling at my jeans, wanting to be picked up. I complied and got up off the bench, scooping her up and hugging her tightly.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Lily asked sounding worried.

"I'm fine baby, just something silly that's all. Hey, why don't you round up the other three and we'll watch a movie together. Okay?" I asked. It was half assed child minding but I was too tired to run around after them all day. Lily nodded and ran off to find all the other kids while I went into the lounge. I got down on the floor by the cabinet where we kept all the DVDs and looked through for something that all of them would like. After a lot of uming and ahing I decided on _Spy Kids_. I set it up, shut the curtains and waited for them to come back to the lounge. Lily and Shadow cuddled up together on one of the couches, whereas Luke and Typa sat as far away from each other as possible.

"Luke, why don't you sit by Typa?" I suggested, sitting down on the couch.

"Me no sit by her!" Luke exclaimed outraged.

"I know let you!" Typa yelled back poking her tongue out.

"They're so immature." Lily said to Shadow, looking at the younger two disappointedly. Shadow nodded.

"Guys, let's just enjoy the movie and not start world war three. Please?" I asked. They went silent as I pushed play. I relaxed on the couch, resting my head on some pillows. About ten minutes into the movie, I lost my fight of trying to keep my eyes open and was out like a light.

**Third Person POV**

"Lily?" Luke asked his older sister.

"Shh, Luke, the movie's on." Lily shushed him too engrossed in the movie to listen to her little brother. Luke scowled; he wanted Lily to help him.

"But-" he began before he cut her off again.

"Shut up Luke!" She snapped.

"Shh, you wake mama up." Luke scolded patting his sleeping mother's hair. Lily looked up and went over to her brother. Her mother was well and truly asleep. Typa and Shadow joined them and the four of them stood beside Violet all unsure what to do.

"Do we wake her up?" Lily asked, worried that something might happen without her mother to keep them all safe.

"No, she tired." Luke disagreed, looking around the room for a blanket to cover Violet with.

"Yeah, let her sleep. Memba what happen the other day." Typa said. The four of them though back to when Violet had dropped the pizza. None of them had seen any of the adults that upset. They were disturbed from their debating by the garage door opening. They stayed quiet while the door opened and someone's footsteps came open.

"Daddy!" Lily exclaimed, greeting her father. "Mummy fell asleep." Iggy nodded, spotting his wife curled up on the couch, fast asleep.

"Okay, ah you guys keeping watching the movie, I'll take her upstairs and then we'll have some lunch." He went over to Violet and lifted her gently into his arms. She mumbled something incoherent and snuggled into him.

**Violet POV**

I woke up in bed, with someone stroking my hair. I opened my eyes to see Iggy sitting beside me.

"Hi." He murmured leaning down to kiss me on the forehead. I remembered what I was supposed to be doing.

"The kids! I can't believe I fell asleep! I'm such a bad mother!" Ig wrapped his arms around me and started rocking me.

"Shhh," He whispered in my ear. "You're not a bad mother. You got tired, it happens to everyone especially to people who are two and a half months pregnant. Remember, it's one of the times when the exhaustion is the worst."

"But that shouldn't get in the way of my parenting abilities to my other kids." I sniffed. "What if something happened?"

"Then they would have woken you up. But nothing happened. I came home to get my phone and found them all crowded around you trying to decide what to do and I took the afternoon off to watch them so you could sleep."

"How much time have you taken off work for me since we found out about the baby?" I asked.

"Two days and an afternoon. They're not going to care at work, as long as my department is making a big profit, no one's going to mind how much time I take off."

"I'm not getting you in to trouble then?"

"Of course not, and to be honest, I'd quit in a heartbeat if I couldn't take time off to be with you. You're my wife and you and the kids and the baby are my top priority."

"You always know just what to say." I smiled. "Now, come on, I need to get up before Ally and Jacob get home and discover that I fell asleep while watching their children and never trust me again."

"Are you ok? Do you need more sleep?"

"I'm fine. I promise I'll get an early night tonight, does that make you happy."

"Ecstatic."

Half an hour later, I was sitting on the kitchen bench watching Iggy bake. The kids were in lounge playing and we could see them though the doorway.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you this morning." I said quietly. Iggy came over to me and kissed my forehead.

"You don't need to be sorry. You were tired and feeling sick and that wasn't your fault." A tear slipped down my cheek.

"I just felt so bad. I don't need a time machine or a husband who can use a condom and I don't hate you. I love you, every bit of you." I put one hand on each of cheeks and pulled his face towards me and kissed him. "When they say that pregnant women have crazy mood swings they're not exaggerating." I joked.

"And the crying heaps thing too." Iggy chuckled. I hit him on the shoulder.

"Just shut up and bake." Iggy went back to make his cookies. I heard the garage door open and close after a car snuck in. They were back. Max and Ally were first through the door giggling, making me wonder how much they had been drinking. Jacob and Fang sulked through doorway.

"How was lunch?" I asked.

"Ally and Max decided to drink the restaurant dry." Fang said bitterly. Iggy laughed loudly.

"That old trick. Good one." He snorted. "Don't know how many times I've had that one pulled on me."

"Not a lot in the past few years, since I'm, you know, constantly pregnant."

"Yeah now it's just ice cream and that kind stuff. But seriously you guys got conned."


	22. Shattered

**Chapter Twenty-two- Shattered**

I woke up with a yawn and rolled over to see Iggy, propped up on his hand, watching me.

"Morning preggers." He greeted me with a grin.

"Don't call me that." I scolded making him smile wider. A month and a half had passed since Iggy got his vasectomy and I was four months pregnant. Things had been pretty good lately. My morning sickness had stopped and I was less tired.

"How's _it _this morning?" Iggy asked putting a hand onto my stomach which was growing fast. "No kicking yet?" he was so anxious to feel the baby kick. I'd been feeling little flutters now and then but they were very light and couldn't be felt from the outside

"Not yet, but it's supposed to be any day now."

"Well, I for one can't wait. So are we going to get up?"

"I have other ideas." I kissed him but we were interrupted. Luke had started crying, he was awake. Iggy and I sighed in unison.

"I don't even know why you made me get that... thing when children are the ultimate form of contraceptive." I laughed and got out of bed.

"Go make breakfast. I'm craving bacon." I walked down the hall into Luke's room. "Good morning baby." I said as I picked him up.

"Hi mama." His speaking was getting so much better. But his mind was like a sponge and his favourite person to copy was his father. It worried me that he'd pick something up off Iggy that wasn't appropriate for a fifteen month old

"Did you have a good sleep?" He nodded with a yawn. I went over to his dresser and started getting out clothes for him.

"You have good sweep?"

"Uh-huh." I lay him down on the changing table and took his pyjamas off. I changed his nappy and put his clothes on. "Okay, go get some breakfast off daddy." I lifted Luke off the table and he toddled off. I went into Lily's room after opening Luke's curtains. She was still fast asleep, looking as cute as a button snuggled deep down in the blankets and a soft toy tucked under each arm. I opened the curtains and when that didn't wake her, I sat on the edge of her bed.

"Lily, sweetie. Wake up baby." I said softly. Her eyes opened sleepily and she sat up, rubbing them.

"Morning" She yawned. She leaned over and put her head in my lap. I ran my fingers through her strawberry blonde curls.

"Come on, up you get. Can you get yourself dressed?" Lily nodded and stood up. "Good girl." I kissed her on the top of her head and left the room. I went into my own room and started getting dressed. I was trying to stay out of my maternity wear as long as possible but I was nearing the stage where I needed to start wearing it. I selected a light blue dress that tied in a bow at the back. The stomach area was normally quite loose on me but now it was tight and only just fit. Dresses were all I fitted at the moment. I put on a white cardigan because it was early December and getting cooler. Leaving my hair out I went down to the kitchen for breakfast.

"Good morning." I said brightly. Everyone was up and dressed, already eating. I was pleased to find Iggy had already put food on my plate and there was a whole lot of bacon. I sat down and started eating it.

"I have to go grocery shopping today." I announced to everyone. "We're out of ice cream."

"We have a whole carton." Iggy said.

"I ate it last night. You were asleep."

"What were you doing eating ice cream in the middle of the night?"

"You really are stupid aren't you?" Ally snorted.

"You're just lucky we had some or I would have sent you out to the shops."

"Your cravings get worse every pregnancy." Iggy sighed sadly.

"Well, aside from the ice cream, it's Saturday so the flock will be coming over for lunch. So we obviously need a tonne of food."

An hour or so later I was getting Lily in the car. She wanted to come with me when I went shopping probably so she could pick what cereals we got and what flavour ice cream. Once she was safely strapped in, I got in the driver's seat and started the car up. I drove past a cafe and decided to get a coffee, decaf of course.

"Baby, I'm just going to get a coffee." I told Lily as I looked for a park.

"Can I get a muffin or something like that?" she asked. "Please?"

"Sure sweetheart." I smiled, crumbling to her wants. Damn, these hormones we turning me into as big of a sucker as Iggy. We parked and I helped her out of the car. She held my hand as we walked into the cafe. Lily took ages uming and ahing over what to get but eventually she picked a chocolate muffin. I ordered her muffin and my decaf latte and we sat at a table.

"Mummy, I want to sit on your lap." Lily told me as I sat down in my seat. I opened my arms and she hurried over to curl up on my lap. Our food and drink was soon bought over.

"This is a good muffin." Lily commented, taking a bite. We finished after about ten minutes and Lily started trying to get off my lap with chocolate still on her face.

"Hold on a minute, chocolate face." I said grabbing her around the waist so that she couldn't escape and wiped off the muffin from her face. We got back in the car and drove to the supermarket. I carried Lily over to the trolleys and put her in one so I could push her around the supermarket. Lily had an opinion on everything I chose and had to pick everything but she behaved better than Luke would have. All in all it took us about an hour to get around the supermarket and all the bags back into the car. Shopping with Lily was good mother-daughter bonding time which we needed with the baby's impending arrival. When I pulled into the garage I found Iggy standing by the door to the house waiting for us to arrive.

"Hi daddy!" Lily exclaimed as he got her out of the car. She hugged him tightly.

"Hey princess, how was shopping?" Iggy asked, putting her down on the ground.

"It was fun, mummy got me a muffin."

"That's good. I'm going to help mummy with the groceries so you should run inside and go play. Okay?" Lily nodded and ran into the house. I went over to the boot that Iggy was opening. "Hey Violet." He grinned putting his arms around my waist.

"Hi." I said, standing on my tiptoes to kiss him. I forgot about everything else and started making out with him.

"The groceries..." Iggy mumbled.

"Don't care." I whispered. My hormones made me want to do it all the time, lately. He carried me up to the bedroom and after some quick fun, Iggy went to get the groceries while I went through the lounge to go grab a book and sit on the porch. I found Ally sitting by herself on the couch, looking very edgy and paranoid.

"Hey Ally, are you alright? You seem kind of jumpy." I commented, stopping.

""I-I-I don't honestly know. Something doesn't feel right today." She admitted. I sat down on the couch next to her.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I offered, wanting to be there for my best friend like she had so many times for me.

"I can't explain it. I just feel like something bad is about to happen, that someone is watching every move we make waiting for our guard to go down... am I crazy?" She asked.

"I think that with our lives paranoia is very normal. I mean, you wouldn't believe how paranoid I am about this baby."

_Flashback: One night earlier_

"_I-I-Iggy, wake up!" I told him shaking him violently. I was in tears. Iggy sat up wiping the sleep out his eyes. _

"_What's wrong?" he asked, totally used to this._

"_I-I-I'm so s-scared that something is going to go wrong with the baby." I sobbed as he put his arms around me. _

"_Honey, its fine. Everything is okay; the baby is fine and healthy. You need to stop this worrying." I nodded._

"_Can we have sex now?" I asked, brushing away my tears._

"_Do I ever say no to that question?"_

_End flashback_

"Yeah, you're right. I'm just being silly. Ignore me."

"I'm sure everything fine. But if there's something really bugging you, you can tell me."

"No, its fine. Just one of those days I guess." Ally looked out the window quickly before leaving the room. I hoped she was going to be okay. I picked up my book off the shelf and went outside to read it on one of the loungers.

There was a knock on the door at half past twelve. I got up of the lounger and went through to the entryway. I opened the door to find the flock waiting out there for us.

"Hi guys." I said with a smile. We all hugged and I lead them through to the dining room and then went to round all the others up. Ally still seemed jumpy and was looking around all the time. Luckily we could count on Iggy to keep the conversation light.

"We got interns at work and it is awesome." Iggy said launching into a full monologue about how cool the interns were. "They have to do whatever I say and I don't have to pay them. Hey Vi, I could send one home to do chores for you."

"No," I said abruptly.

"Because it's a total abuse of power." Max said looking at Iggy sternly.

"No, because they wouldn't do it right. If you want something done right you have to do it yourself." I said. Everyone snorted knowing it was typical of me. Well, how would they like it if I suddenly stopped cleaning and the house became utter chaos and a pigsty? Throughout lunch we talked and joked and a substantial amount of food was consumed which was good because Iggy made enough to feed a small country.

After lunch we all decided to hang out in the lounge. I put Luke down for his nap and then went back downstairs and sat next to Iggy on the couch. Lily wedged herself between us. It was a rather relaxed afternoon all until it happened. It began when Ally turned to Jacob looking scared

"Jake," she whispered. Something crashed through the window landing in the middle of the room. Plumes of smoke started coming out of it and filled the room.

"What the fu-" Iggy began but I didn't hear the end of his expletive because everything went black.

I woke up groaning and sitting up. Luckily I had collapsed backwards into the couch so that I didn't crush the baby. Lily was slumped against me and Iggy had obviously tried to catch us before passing out himself. I sat up, feeling a flutter of movement from the baby, making me feel a flood of relief. Iggy started waking up when I sat up. We were the first two to regain consciousness.

"Ugh." Iggy moaned sitting up as well. He saw that I was sitting up and looked relieved. "You okay?"

"I think so. I can feel the baby moving slightly so its fine." Lily was out cold on the couch and Luke was upstairs asleep. Or at least I hoped so. Lily was out cold on the couch and Luke was upstairs asleep. Or at least I hoped so.

"I'll go check on Luke." Iggy said sensing my worry and he left the room. Everyone else began waking up and I started doing a head count. Suddenly I noticed something very scary. In the place where Ally was sitting laid one red rose. Ally was missing.


	23. Fights

**Chapter Twenty-Three- Fights**

I stood there gaping for a moment. Ally's paranoia had been exactly right; I should have taken more notice of it. Everyone started waking up and they saw me standing there looking terrified and shocked.

"Vi, what's up?" Fang asked worriedly.

"Where's Iggy? Where's Ally?" Nudge inquired looking around. Jacob went incredibly pale. He looked as if his heart had been ripped out. I knew how he felt. Even though it was years ago, it still brought painful memories to the surface. Iggy came back into the room.

"Luke's fine, still asleep. Hey, what's wrong?" I turned to him tears welling my eyes.

"Ally's missing." I whimpered running to him. He hugged me.

"Well then, we'd better find her." Iggy said calmly. God, he was amazing. Iggy kissed the top of my head and it calmed me down and cleared my head. We broke apart but I kept a tight hold on his hand.

"But where is she?" Angel pondered.

"I think I know." Jacob said quietly. "Unfortunately it's a long story and for you guys to understand I have to tell you right from the beginning, when Ally and I were kids stuck at Gamma, actually before that, before we were even conceived."

"Conceived? So you weren't test tube babies." Max wondered.

"No, we weren't." Jacobs's eyes clouded over, like he was many years away. "Both of our fathers were young scientists slowly building their way up the ranks but to get to the top they had to come up with their own science experiment for the company. They both wanted to get to the top so badly that when Itex talked to them about their newest idea, avian hybrids, they couldn't resist. But what was different to most of you is that they wanted the experiments to be their own children. They were some of the better looking guys of their time so they had woman falling around them just to talk to them but they considered their options carefully and found two women who were perfect, our mothers." Jacob's eyes unclouded and he looked at the ground clenching his fists.

"They got them into their cars then drugged them and held them captive raping them until they got pregnant. The avian DNA was implanted into us and then they carried us while locked up. Once they gave birth to Ally and I, they killed them having no more use and knowing they couldn't let them go because they would be exposed. This was all done at Itex, using their resources and rooms because Gamma wasn't quite as big.

"Once we were born Jeb sold us to Gamma so that our elemental powers wouldn't kick in. We grew up together in a small cell getting tests done and getting beatings quite often. We escaped many times but never got far, always being captured, most of the time only after a week. Slowly we got older, stronger and our powers kicked in properly. Ally always got it worse than me and when she turned fourteen things were about to get worse.

"Ally's dad had been waiting for her to be old enough so he could…rape her. We got out of there as soon as we found out so he didn't touch her. To make it safer we changed our appearances drastically. After quite a while of having freedom we were caught. I was injured so I couldn't escape but I made sure Ally did. You know the next part."

"So both of your father's are after you now?" Fang asked.

"No, only Ally's father is. The reason we left all those years ago is that Ally's father knew where we were and we knew we wouldn't be able to ever stay in one place unless we finished this so we had no choice but to leave. It would be safer for all of you and everyone else if they didn't know you knew us." I squeezed Iggy's hand tightly. I had always gotten frustrated of him keeping secrets from me but he was only trying to keep me safe

"When we grew up at Gamma we befriended quite a few of the successful experiments and two of them are Shadow's godparents. They hated our fathers just as much as us and decided to help us. Darren and Lucy were looking after Shadow for us, it was only a couple of weeks after Shadow's second birthday and we had gone out on a stake out. Some contacts said our dad's would be there but they weren't. When we realised it was a set up we rushed back but it was too late.

"They had hid Shadow and fought my dad but they had been killed. They were only twenty years old and recently married, not even a proper life. Even though they were part cheetah they still weren't strong enough. My father was waiting for us; I managed to kill him in the fight. We packed up and left with Shadow after burying them. The leather necklace around Shadow's neck holds their wedding rings. We tried to track Ally's dad down but he got disappeared. That's where we have been all these years. And now he's got her doing who knows what." Jacob choked on the last sentence.

"Iggy was right. We can get her back." I said. "You tell us where to find this Gamma place and we'll bust her out." I gave Jacob a smile which he attempted to return but it came out more like a grimace.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Iggy said letting go of my hand. "By we you're not including yourself. Are you? Because I am not letting you put yourself in danger!"

"What? I'm a very capable fighter!" I retorted glaring at him.

"I know that, but the baby will slow you down. It will be harder for you." I just stared at him hardly able to believe what he was saying. To my annoyance Fang was nodding in agreement. "We will get Ally back; you stay here and watch the kids."

"I will not become that woman who stays home and lets her husband fight all her battles! You listen here mister, my best friend is in life-threatening danger and I will not sit back while you all go save her without me! I am a grown woman and you may be my husband but you do not get to make my decisions for me! I am going and that is final!"

"But the baby..." Iggy tried to argue knowing he was fighting a losing battle.

"The baby will be fine. I am only four months pregnant, I am not about to go into labour. I'm going to call my mother and she will look after the kids while we go save Ally." I stalked out of the room to get the phone. I knew his heart was in the right place but he had to know that I wasn't helpless and I could stand up for myself. I rang my mum and hastily explained the situation to her keeping as brief as I could. She promised that she'd be there as soon as possible. I walked back into the lounge.

"She's on her way." I announced sitting on the couch next to Lily who had woken up. Iggy and Fang were muttering together. I rolled my eyes at them knowing exactly what they were talking about. The others were all getting ready to go. Lily climbed onto my lap.

"Mummy, are you all going somewhere?"

"Yeah baby, we are. Grandma's going to look after you. Okay? Shadow needs a friend like you right now. I can't tell you why though."

"I understand. But mummy..." She looked into my eyes intensely. She obviously had noticed that something was wrong. "Be careful." I was touched by my little daughter's sweetness. I hugged her to my chest tightly.

"I will."

"I need you."

"I know. I promise I'll come back."

"Daddy too?"

"Yes daddy too. I love you." I kissed her on the top of her head and set her back on the couch. I went upstairs into Luke's room. He was still asleep and his face was all scrunched up. He had kicked all the blankets off him. I put the blankets over him and leaned over to kiss him on the forehead. His face relaxed when I did so.

"I love you so much." I whispered as I left the room, shutting the door behind me. I went downstairs needing to tell Jacob something.

"Jacob, I don't know if this means anything but Ally was really paranoid earlier." I said approaching him. his eyes widened.

"Paranoid? How? What did she say?"

"Nothing really, she was just really jumpy."

"This is really important Violet. What. Did. She. Say?"

"T-that she felt like she was being watched."

"Fuck. Why didn't she tell me? She knows better than that!"

"I don't think she-" I began but was cut off.

"You should have said something earlier! If you'd told me then she might not be gone." He was right; I should have noticed that something was wrong. This was all my fault.

"I-I'm s-s-sorry." I stammered, trying not to cry but there were tears already dripping out of my eyes. Iggy was at my side in an instant.

"Dude, what the fuck?" He asked Jacob angrily, putting an arm around me. "How the hell can you take it out on Violet?"

"Look, Violet, I'm sorry but who knows what he could be doing to her right now. I might now get her back."

"You should be sorry." Iggy said huffily, rubbing my shoulder since I was still in tears. "And we will get her back."

"You don't know that! She could be gone already! He's been waiting years to get her back; he won't let her get away."

"Attacking Violet is not going to help. Neither is being negative. We've got a plan." Jacob stomped off, leaving me and Iggy alone.

"Are you okay?" Iggy asked me, pulling me into a hug.

"He's right." I mumbled into his chest. "This is my fault and if s-something happens to her..." I trailed off.

"Violet, this is not your fault. Don't you dare blame yourself! And we're going to get her back."

Half an hour later the eight of us were gliding through the air trying to get to this gamma place. I was still quite upset over the exchange with Jacob.

"Is it still bugging you?" Iggy asked gliding over to me. "I am seriously going to punch him in the face now." he flicked a murderous glance in Jacob's direction.

"No, don't. He's coping the best he can, I certainly wasn't any better when you were kidnapped. In fact I was much, much worse." I let out a sigh. Flying with the weight I had gained being pregnant was harder than normal and extremely tiring. "How long do you think this is going to take?"

"Uh, I don't know. We're kind of just following Jacob. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, the extra weight makes it a bit harder but I'll be okay." After another half hour of flying we thankful arrived at Gamma. It was an unassuming office building with lots of windows. There was no way it would seem suspicious.

"What's the plan?" Angel asked Max. "How do we get in?"

"I think we make a big entrance." Max said gesturing to the glass ceiling of what appeared to be the atrium. She wanted us to break through it. We flew so that we were hovering above it. I wrapped my arms around my stomach to protect the baby and folded by wings in letting myself drop, breaking through the glass. I used my wings to slow my fall and landed perfectly in the middle of the room. We all took fighting stances while chaos broke out. Within ten seconds weird looking robots entered the room. I was ready to fight and hurried to take an opponent. But anytime I tried to fight Iggy would take over and fought the robot himself.

"What the hell are you doing?" I screamed over all the yelling and fighting. He had just finished off the tenth robot I tried to fight. "I'm doing fine! Let me fight!"

"I don't know what you're talking about." He lied. I started trying to fight again but again he interrupted. That was the straw that broke my back. I decided that instead of not doing anything, I would be better suited trying to find Ally. It was my fault that she was here so I had to try save her. I slipped down a hall way and wandered down it. I opened a door and found and empty conference room. I tried the next one and found a laboratory with two scientists conducting an experiment. One of them looked up.

"That's one of the avian hybrids!" he called and they both started running over to me. I slammed the door shut and grabbed a nearby chair. I put it under the handle trapping the scientists inside. I continued down the hall until I heard a familiar voice.

"Don't you dare touch me." Ally hissed. It was muffled but definitely there. I knelt down on the ground and pressed my ear to the ground.

"Ally?" I called.

"Don't be like the sweetheart." I heard a man say. I didn't recognise his voice but he sounded damn creepy.

"Ally! Hold on! I'm gonna get down there!" I jumped to my feet and ran to the end of the hallway where there was a door labelled stairs. I opened the door and saw that there were stairs down but there was no door at the bottom. I turned to leave but the door had locked behind me.

"Shit." I swore and began hammering on the door. "Hello? Anyone?"

"No one can hear you." I turned and saw Zack coming down the stairs.

"Oh, Zack. Hi. What are you doing here? Have Gamma trapped you too?"

"No, I work here. How else am I supposed to pay the bills and afford the house that we're going to live in together?"

"Um... pardon." He was starting to creep me out. I looked around for possible escape routes, I couldn't find any.

"You know, we're going to live together. We'll get married and have our baby." he stepped forward and touched by stomach. I jerked backwards.

"But I'm married to Iggy. This isn't your baby, it's his. You and I never..."

"Of course you do my petal, remember that night you came to my house. It was magical wasn't it?"

"No, I was already pregnant when you came back. I just didn't know." I needed to get out of here.

"Hush, Iggy shall be out of the way soon and those two little brats of his." Okay, this was enough. I had to get out of here now.

"Iggy! Help!" I screamed pounding on the door. Zack lashed out and pushed me, I fell backwards down the stairs. I felt a scream escape me as I fell through the air and landed on my back on the concrete ground. Even though I had landed on my back the baby still could have been harmed. I clutched onto my stomach. Zack came down the stairs with a smirk on his face.

"Take me to a freaking hospital." I pleaded hysterically. "I might lose my baby."

"You mean our baby." going with it might get him to take me.

"Sure, your baby. Whatever gets you to take me to a hospital."

"Oh, there won't be any hospitals." He couldn't do this. I was in pain and I couldn't imagine what was happening to my poor, fragile, little baby. I wanted Iggy by my side and to know that everything was okay.

"If you loved me at all, you'll do this for me."

"Who said anything about love? You're just a trophy wife."

"Please, an innocent child's life is at stake." He simply laughed and dragged me away. I tried to struggle but I couldn't break free. He pushed a button on the wall and a shelf slid aside to reveal a secret passage way. He pushed me down it.

"Please, just let me go back to my family. I won't say that you tried to imprison me I will just say I got lost. Please?" I tried reasoning with him but to no avail.

"Why would I let you go? You and I are going to disappear together. You'll never have to see that idiot again." He opened a door and we're out in the sunlight but I was immediately shoved into the backseat of a car. Zack put duct tape over my mouth and tied my arms and wings to my torso. My legs were tied together as well. There was no escape now.

"Don't want you getting away now do we?" he said to me. He slammed the door shut and it hit my already bruised head. I whimpered in pain. He got into the driver's seat and stared the car. He drove like a maniac. Not fun when you're tied up and don't have a seat belt on. I got jostled around.

"We've got to get out of the city, far away where they can't find us." He sounded crazed. I was never going to see Lily or Luke again. I would never be able to kiss Iggy again. Even if my baby survived the fall, it would never get to meet its daddy. They would grow up getting told that it was some nut job and not the funny, kind, smart and caring person who really was. It made me miss him even more. And if it didn't survive, I couldn't imagine that kind of pain. Tears splashed onto my cheeks.

"So, I think we'll drive to a safe house I've got." Anywhere he was didn't seem like a safe house. "Anyway we're headed for the east coast. There's a boat that we'll take to Spain. There's a house there that Gamma owns, we'll live there and raise the baby." I had to get out of here. Maybe when he let me out for the evening I could somehow convince him to untie me and I could over power him and escape. I could fly home. I would have to try.

We drove for what felt like hours on end. It was incredibly uncomfortable, lying there tied up. I tried to sleep but I couldn't. Finally we parked at a log cabin. Zack picked me up roughly and carried me into the cabin. He took me into a bedroom and literally threw me on the bed.

"I'll be back so we can try and recreate the night we made our baby." he reached over to drawer and pulled out a syringe, he shoved it into my arm. "Just so you don't try and escape." He laughed coldly and left slamming the door behind him. I started to feel very sleepy. I tried to fight it but I was failing. I shut my eyes and succumbed to the darkness.

**Iggy POV**

You never really lose the ability to beat up a bunch of robots. I hurled a bomb into a group of them and there was massive explosion.

"Brilliant! I never expected it work that well!" I called to Gazzy.

"Yeah, I guess all those hours working on it paid off." he replied. I started fighting another robot as Jacob burst into the room carrying an unconscious Ally.

"Iggy," he called to me. I finished off my opponent (by the way, it was a piece of cake) and hurried over to them. Jacob showed me a head wound of Ally's. It looked pretty bad. But lucky for her, I'm the flock's resident doctor. Hah, I'm the floctor. I'll have to remember that one. I took some bandages out of my backpack and wrapped them carefully around Ally's head.

"That should keep pressure on the wound until we get her proper medical care. She'll probably need stitches and maybe even a transfusion. But that's not anything that I have the equipment to do." I told Jacob, sounding very professional and doctor-like. I was still pissed at him for making Violet cry but there was a time and a place to express that. I dug around in bag for more bandages.

"Here," I said, handing Jacob some bandages. "You need to wrap these around her upper torso, make sure they are tight enough to support her ribs but no tight enough that it will hinder her breathing." The whole flock was crowding around us now.

"Omg! Is Ally okay... and why isn't she wearing pants?" Nudge exclaimed. I realised Ally _wasn't_ wearing pants. Ugh! I looked away and around the room. Then I saw something, or the lack of something that made my blood run cold. Violet was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Violet?" I asked, "Have any of you seen her?" they all shook their heads. I started freaking out. "Where the hell has she got to, she should know better than to-" I was cut off by seeing something speed across one of the windows. It was the kind of obnoxious car that seemed to scream 'look at me, I'm better than you!' And I knew exactly who owned it. Zack. To make matters worse, I saw dark-haired head leaning against one of the back seat windows. I let out a low growl.

"I'm going to kill him!" I yelled, running towards the window. I didn't stop when I reached it; instead I shielded my face with my arms and crashed through it. No stupid glass was going to keep me from my wife and baby. I unfolded my wings and took a running jump into the air. I flew above the car keeping out of sight. I couldn't exactly attack while he was driving as he could lose control of the car and crash. I was worried about him crashing without me attacking, he drove more manically than Ally and I put together. Needless, to say, I was scared shitless.

I caught a glimpse of Violet's face, it was heartbreaking. She looked terrified and was crying her eyes out. I followed the car for about an hour, keeping pace with it. It pulled up at this tiny log cabin. He carried her into the house, not being careful with her like I always was. I landed quietly and followed him stealthily. He took Violet into a room and came out a minute later. He spotted me and smiled evilly. I wanted nothing more than to hit him.

"Ah Iggy, I see you've came to come 'save' her." He made quotation marks in the air.

"What have you done to her?" I growled. We started circling each other.

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

"If I see as much as one scratch on her-"

"You're not going to see her again. Not with what I've got planned for her." He smirked. "Would you like to hear?"

"Of course I don't!" but he didn't listen.

"First, I'll wait for the kid to be born. A part of the deal is that gamma gets it, and I can do whatever I want with Violet. She'll do everything I tell to her do and I will have a lot of fun with her-"

"SHUT UP!" I yelled unable to take anymore. "And you will never touch them."

"You think you can stop me. You're a pathetic, selfish man-whore who doesn't deserve her."

"And you think you do?"

"At least I'm not stupid enough to fall for Courtney. I can't understand how you got drawn into her lies."

"I was young and stupid, it happened years ago. I made a mistake, at least I'm not about to abuse the woman I supposedly love."

"It's not abuse, its making love-"

"It's abuse, and seriously making love? What are you? A girl? I call it f-"

"You are disgusting."

"Violet looves it." Taunting him was fun. "It turns her on."

"Why is she married to you?"

"Because there is no way in hell that she would want to be married to you. I may not be the best husband, sometimes I take what I've got for granted. But the thing is, I love her in a way that you will never be able to even comprehend. Out of the two of us, I _am_ the better man. I'm far from perfect but compared to you, who is willing to give a child that isn't theirs away to be experimented on, I look like a freaking saint."

"Who said anything about loving her? I never loved her. She's stupid and lets her emotions rule her decisions. She's a pretty thing though and will be a trophy-wife for me I guess. As for the child, can you imagine the things that will do to your innocent little baby? Think about the things they did to you Iggy."

"If you're talking about my sight..."

"Yes, your child will probably be made blind. It will be like your childhood. Dog crate and all." This almost pushed me over the edge. One of the things I was grateful for was that my kids had the freedom I never did. Nothing made me happier than spending an afternoon outside with them in the sunshine, taking Lily for a swim, teaching Luke how to play catch. The fact that I was simply able to tuck them into bed at night was a highlight of my day. And I wanted that for my third child too. And nothing this low-life piece of wife-stealing scum did was going to stop me from giving my baby that life.

I lunged for him, knocking him to the ground. I managed to get one good hit in the jaw before he pushed me off of him. I rolled onto the ground and wasted no time in getting up again. I jumped to my feet, grabbed him by the collar and pushed him up against a wall. He pushed my arm away roughly and aimed a kick at my legs; I jumped swiftly to dodge it, missing it by inches.

I'll give him credit, where it's due. He was good. But I had grown up fighting for my life. I could fight my way out of a pack of erasers with my eyes closed. Literally. I also had something that I was fighting for. I had no idea what state Violet was in, but judging by the fact she hadn't came running out when she heard my voice, she probably wasn't conscious. All the more reason to beat this guy to a pulp.

I kicked Zack where it hurts and he fell to his knees. In a Chuck Norris moment, I gave him a roundhouse kick to the face. Scrambling to his feet, he spat out blood and kicked me in the stomach. The force of it sent me flying to the ground. It hurt like hell and all the air had been knocked out of me. But then I saw Violet. She was unconscious and tied up, lying on a bed. She looked beautiful even then. I could see her baby bump and that image gave me all the motivation I needed to keep fighting.

I got up quickly and grabbed his shirt again. But this time I sent him flying, with all the strength I had, into a fish tank on the other side room. Who has a fish tank in an evil hideout anyway? He was knocked out but that didn't satisfy me. I noticed a container of syringes, with various types of liquids in them. Grabbing them, I ran over to him and started stabbing them into his arm, one at a time, I didn't care what they were but hopefully one of them was a sedative.

When I was finally sure that I had done enough, I splashed through all the water, that had came from the smashed fish tank, to Violet. As I started to untie the ropes binding Violet, her beautiful dark eyes fluttered open.

"Ig-gy" she mumbled softly.

"Right here darling." I whispered, scooping her up and kissing her on the forehead. She was pale as anything and I could see bruises all over her. "It's okay, you're safe now. I've got you." She nodded.

"Love you." She sighed, nuzzling into me. Her eyes shut. That wasn't good.

"Sweetie, wake up." I told her. But she didn't. "Violet!" I exclaimed, louder this time. Nothing happened. I saw an empty syringe on the bedside table, with a fancy medical name on it. I put Violet down for a second and took the needle off the syringe and pocketed the rest of it. It might help the doctors and nurses. A trip to the hospital was inevitable now; with a bad head wound causing blood loss and a drugged, unconscious pregnant woman. I picked Violet up again, holding her close. I walked out of the house and jumped into the air, unfolding my wings. I flew back to where the others were, going as fast as I could. It took me half the time that it had getting there.

The flock was sitting on the roof, waiting for me. I saw that Ally hadn't woken up yet, I was kinda worried.

"She's not waking up either. We need to get them to a hospital." I said landing beside them. I looked down at Violet. "Come on Violet, don't leave me." I pleaded her. But her eyes remained shut.

We arrived at the hospital twenty minutes later, crashing into the emergency department. Violet was put onto a gurney and seen by a doctor immediately. He asked me what had happened.

"She was drugged or something. Does this help?" I handed him the syringe that I had taken. He looked at it and nodded.

"It helps a lot thanks. Can you start a saline drip?" He asked a nurse who nodded and got to work. "How many weeks along is she?"

"Sixteen weeks." I said automatically. "I think she had a fall or something too." that could be the reason for the bruising.

"Alright." He scribbled some stuff down on a clipboard. "We'll need to get her an ultrasound to check how the baby is doing." The nurse who had set up Violet's IV went off and returned with an ultrasound monitor. She lifted up Violet's dress and put the gel on her stomach. Violet normally flinched from the cold but this time she stayed perfectly still. The doctor turned on the machine and started the ultrasound. I watched the screen intently, holding onto Violet's hand.

"There it is." The doctor said. I saw the baby on the screen. Even looking all grey and white, it was still cute to me. "If you look there, you can see its heartbeat." The doctor pointed at the screen and I saw the tiny little heartbeat. The baby was okay. My chest felt all tight as relief flooded through me. I saw the whole flock looking at me, I supposed I looked like I was about to cry but they didn't say anything. I would have kicked their asses later anyway.

"Are they going to be okay?" I asked quietly.

"Violet is quite dehydrated, but the IV is doing its job and your baby is healthy. They're going to be fine." The doctor reassured me. They moved Violet and Ally into a room together. Jacob and I were sitting on chairs at their bedsides. I smoothed Violet's hair and held her hand tightly. I felt like I was fifteen again, waiting for Violet to wake up. But this time I had even more on the line, my child too. The flock came in and sat with us in silence. But after a few hours Max spoke up.

"You are both being ridiculous!" She exclaimed. I didn't say anything or move my eyes from Violet's face. Jacob didn't say anything either. "You need to get out of this room and eat."

"No." Jacob said emotionlessly.

"I'm not leaving her." I argued. "Or it." I tacked on the end thinking of the baby.

"Do you want to be passed out from lack of food when they wake up?"

"Not leaving." I repeated.

"Get your asses out of those chairs before I drag you from the room."

"No." I muttered. Fang snorted.

"Have you been taking lessons in debating from your children?" I looked up briefly to glare at him then turned my attention to Violet again.

"That got an emotion out of him that wasn't depression. Egg him on again Fang." Max ordered.

"Iggy, are you a married twenty-five year old with two, soon to be three kids or are you a four year old who's not getting their way." Fang teased trying to get a reaction out of me.

"Piss off." I muttered under my breath. Haven't I been through enough today?

"Well it looks like we'll be taking you out by force. Who wants to go first?" I pointed at Jacob who pointed at me in response.

"How about we flip a coin?" Angel suggested.

"Good idea. Heads for Iggy and tails for Jacob."

"It's tails." Fang announced. I breathed a sigh of relief and buried my face in Violet's side, breathing in her pretty scent. I could hear shouting and fighting, but it all sounded like white noise to me. I was detached from everything. I put one hand across her stomach and lay very still until Max addressed me.

"Don't get too comfortable Ig. We'll be back for you soon." She warned as she left the room. Good luck to them, I was not going to leave Violet's side until she woke up. I stayed in my position.

"I love you so much." I whispered to Violet. "Please, please, wake up. I need you. I love you too baby." Then I heard Ally scream.


	24. Once Upon A Time

**Chapter Twenty Four- Once Upon a Time**

I woke up in a room that smelt of anti-septic. I woke up and saw a whole lot of light. Blinking a couple of times, I sat up realising I was lying in the middle of the floor. I rested my hand on my baby bump and looked around the familiar room until I realised where I was. My old room in the school. I started freaking out.

"Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit." I gasped. Zack knew exactly how to screw with my mind. Out of all the places that that stupid psychopath could trap me it had to be in here. I heard a little shriek from behind me and turned around to see a little dark headed girl fall out of the one of the cages.

"Are you alright?" I asked rushing over to her and crouching down beside her, poor thing looked like she was Lily's age. But when I looked at her I saw something surprising. She looked exactly like I did when I was little. It was a scary similarity. Was this a tiny clone? The three year old me got to her feet brushed her off and ran over to the door, acting like I wasn't even there. I got up and went over to where she was. She tilted her head to the side looking at the door for a moment. There handle was way too far for the little girl to reach.

Eventually after examining the door for a moment three year old me ran over to the corner of the room and grabbed one of the smaller empty dog crates. She dragged it over to the door and climbed up on to it before standing on it. She looked slightly unsteady but managed to pull on the handle and push the door open a crack, checking that the coast was clear. After a second of looking she pushed the door open more and jumped off the dog crate disappearing out the door. I decided to follow after her; it was a hundred times better than being trapped in the place where my nightmares came true.

I followed her down the familiar white hallway but spotted something on the wall. A calendar showed me that it was today's date but twenty-two years ago. Had I somehow discovered time travel? If this was twenty two years ago and I was twenty five then that really was me as a three year old. Speaker of three year old me she had dived under a medical cart suddenly. I soon figured out why, Ter Borcht was thundering down the hall way. I had no time to hide but he just walked past me. Okay, was I also invisible?

As soon as Ter Borcht had disappeared into a laboratory, three year old me was out of her hiding place. She was obliviously scared that she had nearly been caught so she began running. I followed her again, desperately wanting her to escape and to find a place where she could be safe. She turned a corner and bumped into someone her size, knocking them both to the ground.

"Watch where you're... oh." she began but then trailed off she saw who she had collided with. Unless I was very much mistaken, it was my husband at age three.

"Who are you?" he asked, standing up, offering three year old me his hand.

"I'm Violet, at least that's what they told me what my name was." She told him, taking his hand so he could help her up.

"I really like your name, I'm Iggy, I made it up myself." He said proudly. "I have wings and I live with my friends, they're called Max and Fang. Fang doesn't talk much and Max is really bossy."

"I have wings too but I don't have any friends." She replied quite sadly, I knew how she felt.

"I'll be your friend." He offered, getting a grin out three year old me. I could believe how adorable Iggy was. I could hear footsteps coming quickly and rapidly. "Quick, lets hide in here!" Iggy said pulling on her hand and dragging her into a supply closet. I slipped in after them keen to keep watching their interaction which was just so precious. I stood in the back of the closet.

"So, what are you doing out of your dog crate?" Little Violet asked, sitting on the floor cross-legged examining Iggy very curiously as well as she could in the dim light of the closet. Iggy felt around on the wall for a light switch and eventually found one so the closet filled with light.

"Me and Max and Fang were trying to escape but we met some erasers and got separated. So I've been wandering around to try find them but then I found you instead."

"I was trying to escape to but I didn't run into erasers. They're really scary." Iggy sat down beside my mini-me.

"I'm not afraid of anything." He told her smugly. I knew that it was a total lie, but at age three I didn't have either that ability to detect lies or the prior knowledge of all the stuff that freaked Iggy out.

"Wow, you're so brave, I'm not afraid of much but erasers do really scare me... and needles." She admitted, looking down at her knees. She was letting him in more than she'd ever let anymore in and more than she ever would for the next twelve years. I thought of all the stuff they would have to go though before they found each other again. He'd lose his sight and she'd fall in love with a lying deceitful scumbag and almost give up her life because of said scumbag. And then all the stuff they would have to go through even after they'd get together. In the present day, our relationship was hanging by a thread; it was hard to believe that we were once these innocent little kids.

"Well, I can protect you from them, not that you need protecting cause if you managed to survive all this stuff you must be pretty tough." Iggy smiled. "Being afraid of needles in erasers is okay because they're bad." He comforted her and you could see by her grin that it made her feel way better. Even then he knew how to make me smile.

"Where is he?" asked a frustrated voice from outside the door that I believed to be Max.

"We'll find him." Someone, presumably Fang replied.

"We're not leaving without him." Max was bossy and a leader even at three, although I guess she'd be four. Their footsteps could be heard disappearing.

"Don't you want to go with them?" My three year old self asked Iggy quietly when he didn't move.

"Nah, I think I like being with you more. Max and Fang are best friends and always leave me out of stuff. It sucks."

"That sounds really mean. I bet your way cooler than them." She told him quietly. They were both quiet for awhile until someone's stomach growled.

"Your tummy rumbled." Iggy laughed.

"Shut up!" Little Violet protested. "I'm hungry and it must be lunchtime." She crossed her arms and scowled at him. The first of many times that I'd gotten mad with him. Iggy got up and started looking around all the shelves. "What are you doing?" Little Violet asked curiously, obviously not mad at him anymore.

"You said that you were hungry so I'm going to find you some food." He told her. He started climbing up the shelves to see the higher shelves. I immediately wanted to tell him to get down from there because he'd hurt himself but I had to remind myself that he wasn't Luke no matter how much he looked like him. Plus, once Iggy set him sights on something there was no stopping him. "Um, I found some bread, it that okay?" Iggy asked.

"Yeah, that's fine." They sat down together and ripped open the packet, luckily the bread appeared quite fresh so I didn't try to interfere.

"So, how long have you been in the school?" Iggy asked.

"I don't know, I've been here as long as I can remember. I don't like it much, you're the only nice person I've ever met here."

"Max and Fang are okay but you're much nicer."

"Thanks. The people in the white coats are really mean. They put needles in me all the time and I told them that I don't like it but they still keep doing it." Little Violet pouted.

"They do that to me too, it's really annoying."

"So, what kind of things do you like to do?"

"I like making bombs, I steal stuff and make them and it's really awesome and I like setting stuff on fire. Sometimes when the erasers have come I throw my bombs at them and it stops them from hurting us. I like kicking Fang's butt but Max tells us off if we get too violent and-" Iggy was cut off by the door to the closest being wrenched open. A tall hulking eraser was standing on the other side making the two toddlers look like tiny mice standing next to an enormous elephant.

"Got ya!" he snarled nastily The two little kids shrieked and ran to the back of the supply closest where I was standing.

"Stop! They're just little kids, they need each other!" I screamed trying to grab onto the eraser but my hands just went though it like my hand was made of air. I felt helpless; there was nothing that I could do to save them. The toddlers were both clinging onto each other, Iggy looking as if he was about to cry and there were already tears pouring onto little Violet's face. She looked a lot like Lily did when she cried, making me feel even worse. Soon enough the eraser had them both in his tight grip. I remembered how those claws felt against me and everything came back to me. This was my memory, all of this had actually happened.

"You've got them?" a scientist asked from the door brandishing two syringes.

"Yes sir." The eraser replied holding the two innocent children out to the scientist. The scientist plunged one needle into each child's arm. Iggy was trying to be brave but I could see that he was trying to hold his tears back. My mini-me on the other and was screaming, squirming looking distraught. She'd been through this so many times before. Both of them suddenly when limp and the room was silent, they'd been given a sedative. That would have been why I didn't remember any of this happening.

"Take them back to their rooms and make sure that they are both adequately punished." Although I couldn't remember meeting Iggy, I could remember being punishing for something that I couldn't remember doing. That had been the first time that they had infected me with a deadly disease for their own testing purposes. The room suddenly went dark.

"I just love her-them so damn much." It was Iggy. "What am I going to do if they don't make it?" My twenty-five year old Iggy. I needed him really badly. I wanted his arms around me, this whole thing was just messing with my mind.

"Iggy?" I screamed, stumbling around in darkness. I couldn't find him. "Where are you?" I was in tears now. Where was he? I couldn't find him in this place, I wanted to get out of here.

"I'm right here." He said gently. But he wasn't, I couldn't feel him, I couldn't see him and I couldn't smell him. I could only hear his voice. I fell into a sitting position, I was nearly distraught as I had been as a three year old when I was getting injected by the scientist.

"I need you." I sobbed. I felt a hand tightening around mine and suddenly it wasn't dark anymore. Everything was suddenly alight with brightness.


End file.
